Augustgradian Assault
by Zulon
Summary: The Adventure Concludes...Heroes rise, democracy dies, traitors revealed and threats unseen. StarCraft - Copyright Blizzard Sonic - Copyright Sega MegamanZero - Command and Conquer and Red Alert Characters Copyright EA Games. Updates Now Resuming.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Capture

Location: Central City

Afternoon, two days later...

* * *

"What are everyone's plans for the day?" Sally asked as she and the rest of the Freedom Fighters walked through the halls towards the staircase.

"Suger-Twan and ah were gonna take a walk in Pigeon Park," Bunnie replied.

"And there's some sort of spy film being shown at the local theatre that a bunch of us are gonna see," Sonic said, "Wanna join us?"

"Think I'll pass," Sally replied, "I've been meaning to send a report to Elias and the Council, but thanks anyways."

"Meh, suit yourself," Sonic said as he raced down the staircase.

"I'm headed down to the airport to perform some maintenance on Freedom Two," Tails said as they headed down the staircase.

"And I was planning on heading into town," Amy said.

"Be seeing you mah Princezz," Antoine said as he and Bunnie headed out the front door.

"Bye Aunt Sally," Tails said as he raced off with Amy, Ray, and Mighty in tow.

Sally stood in the foray for a moment before heading into the den where she found the Prime Minister's Military Advisor; General Vasillj Tatarin standing in the room admiring the elegant grand piano that rested in the corner.

"Oh! General Tatarin good afternoon," Sally said.

"Ah Princess, it's nice to see you again," he said politely as he turned around.

"Has there been any development in locating Dr. Eggman?" she asked.

"I'm afraid not, but our Infrastructure AI; Odin has detected several attempts made by him to infiltrate our computer network. But every time we manage to get a lock on his location he relocates," Tatarin replied, "He's a tricky bastard."

"He doesn't have an IQ of 300 for nothing," Sally said as she took a seat on the couch and pulled out NICOLE.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I've got to send a report back home to update the council of the situation," Sally explained, "Have you seen the Prime Minister?"

"He's meeting with Aldeo Cistler; the Auditor General," the general replied.

"Ah. NICOLE establish a connection to New Mobotropolis, please," Sally requested.

"One moment..." NICOLE said as her brother's holographic appeared before here.

"Sally, how is everything?" he asked.

"I won't bore you with the details," she replied, "the United Assembly has been unable to make a decision on whether or not to ally with us against the Eggman Empire, but because of interference from the Vanu Sovereignty no decision has been made."

"Hamlin's gonna have something to say about that," Elias said shaking his head, "He was against the idea of sending you guys down there in the first place."

"I'm sure he will. Anyways I met with our benefactor and he explained a lot of things, but I won't waste your time wit the details at this moment," she said.

"Anything else?" Elias asked.

"Not at the moment. If I have something new to report I'll let you know," Sally said.

"Alright. Good luck Sally," Elias said as the holographic image faded away.

Sally let out a sigh and rubbed the bridge of her nose before turning to see General Tatarin standing in front of the window as he fiddled with his cell phone. Sally grabbed NICOLE, flipping her closed, ready to return her to her hip pouch when NICOLE suddenly spoke up.

"I'm receiving a transmission from Zulon, he says it urgent."

"Patch him through," she said as she reopened the device.

"I need to see you," his voice crackling through the speaker, "can you meet me behind Joeyray's Bar in Graschek

in an hour? I have information that you need to see."

"I can but nobody else is here," Sally said.

"Come alone, a large group will draw attention," he said.

"Alright, I'll meet you there," Sally said as an odd feeling came over her as she closed up NICOLE.

"Never a dull moment, eh?" Tatarin asked.

"Not since we got here," Sally said, "and not since I was five-years-old. If Prime Minister Carmichael asks..."

"I'll let him know you've gone out," he said.

* * *

Location: Graschek

One hour later...

* * *

The town of Graschek was quite literally a hop, skip, and a jump from Central City as the cab that Sally was riding in moved through the center of the town and pulled to a stop in front of a building with a vertical signal with the word bar in red neon lights and a holographic image of a woman dancing on the rooftop. The first thing that the Princess of the Republic of Acorn was aware of was how little activity was going on in the town, but she concentrated on the task at hand and paid the driver before climbing out of the back seat of the cab and began walking towards the building. The bar shared property with a small gas station located nearby with several liquid Vespene canisters that seemed to ruin the view. Sally found that the area behind the building was completely deserted leaving her slightly annoyed that she had travelled all the way from the capital only for Zulon not to show, but then again she was several minutes early and she didn't have long to wait before she heard footsteps approaching.

"I was afraid you were going to be late," she said as she turned to find a bald-headed Terran dressed in black standing behind her.

Before she could even open her mouth to speak the man was already in front of her as he jabbed a taser into her ribs and pulled the trigger causing several hundred volts of electricity to shoot through her body. All her muscles suddenly seized up at once and she was unable to prevent herself from collapsing to the ground in a heap as NICOLE flew loose from Sally's hip pouch. Sally's body trembled from the after effects of the electrical shock and could only watch helplessly as she watched as the man stomped hard on NICOLE in an effort to render the device neutralized. The man began to approach Sally and removed some sort of electronic device from the pocket of his coat and brought it to his mouth.

"Hello princess," the man said in a voice that belonged to Zulon.

There was a squeal of car tires as a black van barrelled around the corner and roared past and pulled to a stop next to them allowing the man to pick her up and toss her inside, grabbing NICOLE from off the ground before climbing inside.

* * *

Location: Unknown

Several hours later...

* * *

Sally head pounded painfully as she slowly opened her eyes and found herself lying on the cold metal floor of a small chamber as she stared at a dull gray wall. Her body ached from the taser attack from before but somehow she had managed to push herself up off the floor and into a sitting position and saw an emblem painted on the wall in front of her. It was a large green circle with three large purple diamonds in a star formation with a smaller diamond set between two of them. She was still suffering the effect of being drugged and tasered but immediately sobered up upon recognizing the image as the logo of the Pro-Human Vanu Sovereignty.

"Oh hell," she said to herself as she unsteadily climbed to her feet and turned around, "I should have listened to my gut."

The room she was in was little more the a cell blocked off by a field of energy with a dirty mattress lying on floor with a mall metal sink a metal toilet that was closed off in order to provide her with some privacy. In the room beyond it there was a large chamber with numerous computer terminals situated in front of a large metal wall, while two more Vanu Sovereignty logos were on either side. She needed to call for help but as she reached down to retrieve NICOLE from her hip pouch she remembered that she no longer had her, that she was now in the hands of the enemy having who knows what done to her.

"Damn it," she sword as the sound of a door sliding open suddenly drew her attention.

She could hear heavy footsteps hitting the metal floor and watched as a young man with short gray hair that was parted in the middle appeared in front of the force field dressed in a red suit with gold fabric on the shoulders and black leather boots.

"Hello princess," the man said cheerfully but in such a way that Sally suddenly felt a chill run right up her spine.

"Tamsen Cauley," Sally said, unsurprised by his appearance, "I knew you were a traitor, but I never thought you were part of the Vanu Sovereignty."

"Oh we're everywhere, Princess. We have agents in every facet of our society from the political parties to used car salesmen, we're everywhere and you can't even sneeze without us knowing," he explained.

"So what do you plan to do? Overthrow the government and expel the Mobians?" Sally asked.

"Pretty much," he replied, "and certainly in that order."

"You talk too much Cauley," another voice said, "why don't you just blab out our entire plan while you're at it?"

Cauley turned to see another figure standing behind him dressed all in black with a hood that covered his head and a long black leather trench coat that reached right down to his ankles. Standing beside him were two individuals dressed bulky yet formfitting red armour with a full face helmet that had a green Y-shaped Plexiglas visor and armed with 2nd generation C-14 Impaler gauss rifle.

"Uh...my-my apologizes sir. I did not mean to overstep my authority," Tamsen said with nervousness creeping into his voice.

"Leave," the man ordered coldly, "I have personal business with the princess."

Sally watched as the former Minister of Defence nodded and slipped past the two motionless troopers and head the door slide shut before the newcomer removed a cardkey from the pocket of his coat and slid it in the electronic lock, punching a few buttons in the process causing the energy field to shut down. Sally contemplated making a break for it, but quickly decided against it due to the fact that the two troopers that had escorted this mysterious individual in could and most likely would gun her down before she could even reach the door.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"Like you're in any position to be making demands," the man said, "Very well, if nothing else I'll be get to enjoy the look on your face."

The man lift his hands to his face and drew back his hood back causing Sally to fail to stifle a gasp when she realized who it was.

"NO! It can't be!" Sally cried out.

"Oh yes princess...it is," General Tatarin said with a wide grin.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Lion's Den

Location: Unknown

Evening...

* * *

"You're a member of the Vanu Sovereignty!" Sally cried out, taking notice that the Prime Minister's Military Advisor no longer had an accent.

"NO! I am the Vanu Sovereignty," Tatarin replied.

"You mean you're the true brains behind the Vanu Sovereignty? Then you're a terrible fake because I know that the real Vasillj Tatarin speaks with an accent," Sally said.

"My dear princess, the Vasillj Tatarin you knew never existed," he replied.

"What!"

"It was all just part of an act that began some forty years ago," the General explained, "And soon the curtain will finally come to a close."  
"What are you?" Sally demanded, "You say you've been putting on an act for forty years, but that impossible, Terrans have only been in diplomatic contact with my kind for eleven to twelve years, and Station Square has had even less time. You're not an Overlander so what the hell are you?"

"This has nothing to do with your kind, my goals greatly differ from those bigots," Tatarin explained, "This is about revenge against the Terran Republic for what they did to me."

"If this isn't about my fellow Mobians and instead it's about revenge then why go to all the trouble of founding a group like the Vanu Sovereignty? What did the Republic ever do to you?"

"I'm glad you asked, Princess," Tatarin said, "You'll be the first person to see my powers in action and lived."

Tatarin spun around, his coat gliding in the air as he reached out in the direction of the computer terminals with his right hand which suddenly became engulfed in a dark blue glow and slowly clenched it into a fist. The terminals were suddenly and violently crushed, but the General wasn't finished with the machine and by thrusting his hand into the air tearing it completely out of the floor before tossing the entire device clear across the chamber.

"They experimented on me," Tatarin said with rage in his voice, "for almost my entire childhood they experimented on me so that I could become a weapon for them to use as they saw fit. Eventually after all the prodding and probing that they put me through I developed the ability to manipulate Dark Energy. But they clearly thought that they could more then handle an eleven-year-old boy, that was until I escaped from my cell and slaughtered each and every member involved with the project, before reducing the facility to rubble. Eventually I was discovered wondering through the jungles of Murasia by a group of Terran Republic soldiers. I gave myself the name Vasillj Tatarin and faked amnesia, but as far as the Terran Republic is concerned they figured that I was a resident of an Illegal Terran Settlement out in the middle of Murasia, which was fine by me."

Sally couldn't believe what she was hearing, she knew that governments sometimes did questionable acts, but to experiment on children in order to create living WMD's, she didn't know what to think of the Terran Republic. He could've been lying through his teeth, but then again the fact that he had just ripped a computer terminal out of the floor without some much as touching it was pretty much a convincing argument that experiments had been conducted on him. Sally suddenly realized that her resolve was beginning to waver, but she stood fast knowing that that was exactly what the traitorous general wanted.

"If what you say is true, why didn't you just expose them?" Sally asked.

"I was never one to solve my problems in a civilized manner," Tatarin stated running a hand through his hair, "I soon came to the realization that I would be unable to achieve my goals alone, but then your people were granted amnesty and I saw an opportunity to gather an army. I knew that I could harnessed the hatred felt by Terrans and Overlanders in regards to your people and I appealed to former Conservative backbencher; Doran Baxter. He had been the most vocal in his displeasure of allowing your people entry into Augustgrad and when he quit the Conservative party in response I appealed to his hatred that festered within him and he became the political leader of the Vanu Sovereignty. His charismatic attitude helped to draw many to our cause including Tamsen Cauley who I immediately knew would become an invaluable asset to the ever growing ranks of the Vanu Sovereignty. I manipulated events to have Cauley installed as a member of Carmichael's government and as it turned out I wasn't wrong in my assumption that he would be valuable to us. Cauley was a shrewd political survivor and by silently eliminating his rivals was able to become the head of the Ministry of Defence, siphoning off millions of dollars of military funding that has served us well. Even that withered old hag; Andrea Tygore is on our side.

"Shoulda known that that racist witch was one of you," Sally said.

"I said she was on our side, not one of us," Tatarin corrected, "for some reason she's gotten it in to that dementia ridden brain of hers that I'd restore the Confederacy, I'm not sure why she'd think that, but I'm willing to play her like a fiddle for the time being. Come with me Princess, I've got much to show you."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Sally said defiantly but that only resulted in one of the Troopers smashed the butt of his weapon into her back and caused her to stumble forward.

"That wasn't a request , Princess," Tatarin said as he headed towards the door.

* * *

Location: Unknown

Several minutes later...

* * *

Sally was led through a long, brightly lit hallway by General Tatarin while the two troopers took up the rear in order to silently persuade he not to attempt to make a break for it, while passing several others along the way.

"These Cerberus Troopers are the culmination of Cauley's Cerberus Program and completely made up of neural resocialized men and women," the general stated.

"Resocialized?" Sally asked.

"It's a medical process that involves altering a person's brain, wiping away their memories and making them completely obedient," he explained, "The process is used on the most violent of criminals; the rapists and the murders and then conscripted into the military. Of course it also has the unfortunate effect of wiping away the person's unique talents and expertise, but such is the price for soldiers that are willing to walk into a hail of bullets when they're ordered to."

"You're a monster," Sally said.

"Oh please, the Confederacy used it and the Republic still uses the method today," the general said with a smirk.

They continued forward for several more minutes until they reached a large view window that peered into an equally large laboratory where numerous researchers went about their business.

"These researchers are part of Project: ReGenesis," Tatarin stated, "Take a look for yourself."

Sally hesitated before peering through the window and caught a glimpse of one of the subjects and was horrified at what she say. There were several chambers in the lab, each one containing a naked corpse that had once been a male Terran whose body was undergoing various degrees of cybernetic enhancements. The most heavily modified of the poor souls had over 70% of replaced with cybernetics, leaving only the frontal portion of the face that was covered with a rebreather unit, the lower torso, and part of the left arm unmodified.

"What are you doing to them!" Sally demanded.

"Oh please! They're already dead, we're just give them a second chance at life," the general explained, "I had nearly cancelled Project: ReGenesis because we lack handheld energy-based weaponry, but as luck would have it when Dr. Eggman attacked Soleanna he inadvertently provided us with the technology that we needed to bring Project: ReGenesis to fruition."

"You defiled the dead just so you could use them as weapons for revenge? You sick twisted monster," Sally screamed as she punched him in the ribs and took off running.

The Cerberus Troopers raised their weapon intent on gunning her down, but Tatarin had them hold their fire and watched as she disappeared down the hall.

"You can run princess, but you'll soon discover that there's nowhere to go," Tatarin said.

* * *

Location: Unknown

Several minutes later...

* * *

Sally didn't know how long she had been running and frankly she didn't care, all that mattered was escaping and warning the others of Tatarin's treachery. The Princess of the Republic of Acorn ran down random hallways hoping to throw off her pursuers before arriving in a hallway that contained a single door at the far end that she immediately made a break for. He legs muscles were burning in protest but she continued until she slammed into the door with the full weight of her body and was hit by a blast of air that didn't reek of ammonia and collided with a metal railing that caused her ribs to cry out in protest. She suddenly realized that she was trapped aboard a Liquid Vespene Drilling Platform with a hundred foot drop to the water below.

"Going somewhere, Princess?"

Sally whirled around to see General Tatarin standing in the doorway behind her.

"I swear to god I'll jump," she threatened.

"Go right ahead," the general said, "It's highly unlikely you'll survive hitting the water and if some miracle you do survive we're far from any shoreline that you won't get far enough away to warn anyone."

Sally hesitated for a fraction of a second, but that was all Tatarin needed to seize her with his power and hurl her into the wall next to him, rendering her unconscious seconds later as the Cerberus Troopers arrived on the scene to recapture her.

"Take her to Dr. Burgess' laboratory," Tatarin ordered, "it's time for the good doctor to have a little fun."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Desperate Search

Location: Prime Minister's Residence

8am, the next morning...

* * *

Bunnie and Antoine emerged from the room they share within the Prime Minister's residence after rested and relaxed and ready to start a brand new day. They stopped at Sally's room and knocked on the door, but when they receive no response Bunnie opened it and found that the room was completely empty and the bed was still made from the day before.

"Bed's not even warm?" Bunnie said touching the covers, "she hasn't been home."

"Maybe she iz downstairs," Antoine suggested.

"Maybe...c'mon Sugar-Twan."

The husband and wife team of the Knothole Freedom Fighters headed down to the dining room hoping to find her there but only found Tails and Ray present while everyone else were still upstairs sleeping.

"Morning," Tails said upon seeing them enter.

"Um...morning. You haven't seen Sally-Girl have you?"

"No...she's still in bed," Tails replied.

"She iz not, we checked," Antoine said.

"Okay...maybe Timothy's seen her," Tails suggested.

"I'm sorry, did I just hear someone say my name?" the butler asked upon entering the room.

"You haven't seen Sally-Girl this morning have you?" Bunnie asked, desperation and worry slowly creeping into her voice.

"The Princess? Well...now that you mention it I don't recall seeing her at all yesterday," Timothy stated, "I thought it was just a coincidence that I kept missing her. Adjutant?"

A large green holographic slowly appeared over the dining table and took the form of mechanical head that was clearly designed to be female.

"Adjutant online. How may I be of service?" she asked.

"Is there any record of Princess Sally leaving the estate?" Timothy asked.

"Departure logged at 2:35pm, yesterday afternoon," the Adjutant replied, "No return had been logged."

"Not good," Antoine said.

"I've got worse news," Tails said as he fiddled with a watch-like device that was attacked to the wrist of his left arm, "I'm trying to reach NICOLE, but I'm not receiving any response from her."

"You're right, that is worse," Bunnie said.

"Better go wake Sonic," Tails suggested, "If something really has happened to her then he'll want to know. I'm gonna keep trying to make contact with NICOLE."

"I'll wake the Prime Minister," Timothy said, "Maybe he knows where she's gone off to."

"C'mon Sugar-Twan," Bunnie said dragging him off.

* * *

Location: Sonic's Room

Five minutes later...

* * *

Sonic lay sound asleep beneath the covers of his bed and could've easily slept all day had it not been for the incisive banging on his bedroom door that roused him from his rest. The hedgehog groggily hurled the blankets off his body and trudged over to the door where he found Bunnie and Antoine standing on the other side with Mighty and Amy.

"Morning," Sonic yawned, "What's so urgent that you guys had to wake me?"

"Sally-Girl's missing," Bunnie said causing Sonic to sober up.

"Alright...that constitutes as being urgent," Sonic said, "where'd she go?"

"We don't know," Amy said, "She left yesterday afternoon and never came back."

"Ze Prime Minister iz being woken as we speak," Antoine said.

"Right, I'll head out and scour the city," Sonic said as he headed back inside to grab his sneakers.

"Uh...Sugar-Hog don't you think it might be better if we find out what the Prime Minister knows before we run around aimlessly?" Bunnie asked.

"Huh...since you put it that way, it does sound kinda foolish," Sonic said scratching the back of his head, "Just let me get ready and I'll meet you downstairs."

"Right. See you in a few," Mighty said as he and the others departed.

"...Sal," the hedgehog muttered as he looked down at his hand before clenching it into a fist.

* * *

Location: Dining Hall

Five minutes later...

* * *

The Mobians had gathered downstairs and were greeted by the Prime Minister who was sitting in a chair dressed in a white T-shirt and gray sweatpants along with his step-son who was seated in his lap still dressed in his pyjamas after having been awoken by all the commotion.

"This doesn't bold well," Carmichael said shaking his head.

"Do you know where she went to yesterday?" Sonic asked.

"General Tatarin told me that the Princess was contacted by someone named...Zoo-um...oh how was it pronounced again?"

"Zulon?" Tails asked causing Sonic to glance at him.

"Our benefactor," Bunnie said in a hushed tone.

"Oh," Sonic replied.

"Yes that's it," Carmichael said, "he wanted to see her and asked to meet her in Graschek."

"Tails, I need you to contact this Zulon fellow. Maybe Sally stayed over at his place like you guys did that one night," Sonic said.

"Aunt Sally's the only one who's be contacted by him regularly," Tails said, "Even if I did know how to reach him it would seem unlikely that he would ask to meet her in Mar Sara and then take her all the way to Tyrador."

"Alright, change of plans," the Hedgehog said crossing his arms, "Bunnie, you and I will go to Graschek and see what we can find."

"Right Sugar-Hog," Bunnie replied.

"Tails, I want you to head to the airport and see if Sal is onboard Freedom Two, if not you might be able to use the ship's communication array to finally make contact with NICOLE."

"Rodger," Tails said.

"Amy! Antoine! I want you to conduct you search in the City Center and Coal Harbour."

"Okay Sonic," Amy said.

"Oui," replied Antoine.

"That leaves you two," Sonic said as he turned to face Mighty and Ray, "I want you to search here in Beacon Hill."

"Right," Mighty said.

"Stay together, and don't get separated," Sonic warned.

"I'll consult ODIN," the Prime Minister said, "He has eyes everywhere, hopefully he'll have something od use."

"Who or what is ODIN?" Amy asked.

"He's the Infrastructure AI for all of Augustgrad, it's short for Observational Directed Intelligence Network," Carmichael explained, "If I get anything I'll contact you."

* * *

Location: Graschek

Ten minutes later...

* * *

It wouldn't take long for Sonic to search the entire town from top to bottom on foot, in the mean time he Bunnie on the other hand decided that the best course of action was to question a few of the locals to see what they knew, unfortunately she wasn't receiving anything that was helpful to her. There was deafening sonic boom and Bunnie turned to see the blue hedgehog standing behind her.

"Anything?" Sonic asked.

"Nothin'," Bunnie replied.

"Damn it," the hedgehog cursed, "Everything seems to be falling apart."

"We can only hope that the others are having better luck, Sugar-hog," Bunnie said placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I just hope she alright," Sonic replied.

There was a beeping coming from Bunnie's pocket causing her to reach inside a removed a PDA, which she quickly switched on.

"I've managed to get some information from ODIN," the Prime Minister said as his face appeared on the screen, "she's been abducted."

"Abducted!" Bunnie and Sonic cried out.

"I'm sending you the video file," the Prime Minister said as his image was replaced by security camera footage.

It showed Sally standing at the back of some building waiting for someone and this went on for several second until a bald headed man dressed in black appear within the range of the camera. It looked as if Sally was saying something, but without any audio sensors it was impossible to tell what it was. They watched as she turned to the man seemingly surprised by his presence when the man suddenly lunged at her and jabbing her in the stomach with something that caused her to collapse to the ground.

"Sally-girl," Bunnie gasped while Sonic remained stone-faced

The man appeared to have stomped on something, but that too was impossible to tell as a black van drove into view of the camera, Bunnie and Sonic could only watch helplessly as Sally was load into the back of the van as drove off with her inside.

"That sunnuvbitch set her up," Sonic hissed.

"Whoa! Hold on Sugar-Hog, we don't know that," Bunnie said.

"I'm contacting the authorities," Carmichael said, "We'll find her."

"Right, thanks for the info," Sonic said as he took Bunnie's PDA and switched it to Tails' channel.

"Yo," Tails said as his face appeared on the screen, "I still haven't been able to contact NICOLE."

"Don't worry about that," Sonic said "come to Graschek and bring the Cyclone, we're gonna pay a little visit to our benefactor."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Confrontation

Location: Vanu Drilling Platform

Three hours later...

* * *

Dr. Stanley Burgess ran a hand against his bald scalp as he looked over at the form of Princess Sally Acorn who lay on a medical gurney still unconscious after the General recaptured her. General Tatarin had been kind enough to provide him with his own laboratory complete with advance medical technology which he used to further the goals of the Vanu Sovereignty, but he couldn't conduct experiments on an sedated test subject. Only by experimenting on conscious subjects, to look in their eyes as he made each incision could he satisfy his urges. With the Princess unconscious he could only suppress the urges for so long until the stress started to get to him and he was already on edge when the door to the laboratory slid open allowing General Tatarin to step inside.

"Did you have to sedate her?" Burgess demanded.

"Couldn't risk her attempting to escape again," Tatarin said.

"I'm losing my concentration, I can't work if I don't cut someone," Burgess said.

"Have you tried cutting yourself?" Tatarin asked with mock seriousness.

"It doesn't work when I do it!" Burgess shouted.

"I'm not here to listen to your complaints, I'm here about the results of my medical test."

"I want to cut someone," the doctor said.

"I'll let you perform invasive neural resocializing, now give me my damn result!" Tatarin warned.  
"Yes...yes, okay," he replied as he walked over to a nearby computer terminal and pulled up a data file with unsteady hands, "You require another injection of nanomachines."

"I figured that was the case," Tatarin said as he pinched the bridge of him nose.

"The process has accelerated to the point where your body is breaking down fast then the nanomachines can repair it. If there was a way to purge you of the excess dark energy that has accumulated within your body you wouldn't have to worry about your powers killing you," Dr. Burgess explained having calmed down.

"Without treatment how long would I expect to have?" the general asked.

"At the rate at which your body is degrading I'd give you thirteen days before you burn out like a star," he replied, "The new nanomachines should buy you at least nine months, but at a cost of," Burgess explained.

"I've been living on borrowed time for close to half my life now," Tatarin said, "It's unlikely that I need that much time, Operation: Three-Headed Dog will be initiated in a few days from now anyways. How badly restricted will my powers be?"

"It's possible that your powers will be completely suppressed or at least severally limited."

"Give me the injection," Tatarin ordered.

Burgess walked over to a nearby bar fridge and rummaged around inside before removing a syringe that contained a glowing blue liquid that seemed to sparkle in the light before handing it over to the Vanu Supreme Leader.

"Can-can I go to the Resocializing Center now?" Burgess asked with what sounded like urgency in his voice.

"And the suppressor?" Tatarin asked.

"The...suppressor? Why would you need the Nanomachine Suppressor?" Burgess questioned.

"Call it a precaution," the general said.

Burgess returned to the fridge and several second later removed another syringe that was encased in white hard plastic.

"You do realize that if you use this there'll be nothing to stop your body from rapidly degrading," Burgess warned.

"Let's hope that it doesn't have to come to that," Tatarin said, "You may go now."

Burgess left without a word as the general slipped the suppressor into his pocket and removed NICOLE's computerized form and placing it on a nearby medical table. The men he had dispatched to abduct the Princess had been a little overzealous and they had damaged NICOLE in the process rendering her unable to send transmission, which was good because he couldn't have his plans spoiled before he was ready. The damage was a lot more serious then just being unable to transmit, NICOLE was also unable to upload or download information, which meant that anything that he thought might be useful to the success of the Vanu Sovereignty was essentially trapped within her computerized form and he wasn't about to crack her open when knew absolutely nothing about how she worked.

"You won't succeed," NICOLE said.

"You can keep saying that, but that doesn't make it true," Tatarin said as he slid the needle between the vertebrae in his neck and injected the contents directly into his spinal cord.

"You don't have to do this," NICOLE said.

"Actually I do...you see the experiment that the Terran Republic conducted which resulted in turning me into the man you see standing before you is still running, there are others out there just like me, children who are being put through the same hell that I was put through. The Terran Republic will die and justice will be served," Tatarin said as he walked over to Sally and removed her IV which was keeping her sedated, "The Princess should awaken soon...and then the real fun begins."

* * *

Location: Madubin Island

That same time...

* * *

The Cyclone V2's engine roared loudly as Tails steered it over they many islands of the Tyrador Province towards Madubin Island; home of their benefactor. Of course Tails was worried about Sally, but he was more concerned about Sonic, he was worried that his anger was going to get the better of him and he was going to do something stupid and unnecessary once they reached their destination.

"We're passing over Madubin Island now," Tails called to Sonic as he watched the hedgehog suddenly leapt out of the back seat and hurtled towards the ground, "SONIC!"

The hedgehog curled into a ball and began spinning, picking up speed as she slammed into the ground and raced off towards the island's estate without so much as a scratch.

"Sonic, don't do anything stupid," Tails said to himself as Bunnie pulled up next to the Cyclone.

"Ah'll see if ah can't catch up, gotta keep Sugar-hog from doin' somethin' he'll regret," Bunnie said as she raced off after Sonic leaving Tails behind.

Sonic raced through the jungle foliage, his anger rising as he headed towards the massive estate that belonged to their benefactor. He came to a complete stop upon reaching a small stone staircase and began his trek to the top before reaching the top several seconds later and found himself poolside of an Olympic size swimming pool with several kids individuals lazing around it.

"Where is Zulon!" Sonic demanded.

"Speaking," someone said as Sonic looked to see a monkey-tailed boy with spiky brown hair, matching eyes, and dressed in a black speedo and a red t-shirt standing on a nearby patio.

The hedgehog suddenly bolted forward and seized the boy by the shirt collar and slammed him up against one of the exterior walls of the estate. Zulon watched as Sheik and Bajiru suddenly stand up in response to the confrontation but were waved off for the time being.

"You...you're just a kid," Sonic said.

Zulon looked down at Sonic arm then looked directly into Sonic's eyes before seizing him by the arm.

"You did not...just...TOUCH ME!" Zulon shouted as he hurled Sonic into the air.

The hedgehog flew at least three feet into the air before he crashed down on a hard, plastic patio table causing it to shatter into a dozen or so pieces. Sonic tried to get up but Zulon took a seat on his chest as he suddenly seized him by the throat with his left arm and charged up a ball of Chi in the other.

"I could easily vaporize your head from your body," he hissed.

"You set up Sal," Sonic said.

"Come again?"

"You called her yesterday asking to meet her in Graschek, General Tatatrin was there and heard you speaking to her and now she's been abducted cause of you," Sonic snarled.

"Don't be absurd," Zulon said, "I haven't talked to her in three days, on top of that I'm not stupid enough to contact her directly. I either send one of my underlings to make contact or I make non-verbal contact by bouncing the signal through half a dozen different relays, you might want to get all your facts straight before you go off making accusations."

"Sugar-hog," they heard Bunnie call out as she arrived on the scene.

Zulon released his grip on Sonic's neck and climbed to his feet, taking several steps away from the two before stopping, his monkey tail swishing about as Bunnie helped the hedgehog to his feet.

"Ah'm sorry," Bunnie said, "Ah told Sugar-hog not to jump to conclusions, but Sally-Girl's missin'."

"It's dangerous to go around making blind accusations and I don't appreciate you showing up at my house looking for a fight," Zulon said not bothering to look in their direction and noticing that Sly and Inari were watching the entire event unfold from the safety of the doorway.

"Well for a guy whose suppose to be an ally you sure don't seem very concerned," Sonic spat.

"Don't get me wrong, I am concerned, I just tend not to show it," he replied.

"SONIC!" Tails called out causing the turned to see the twin-tailed fox flying towards them after having ditched the Cyclone.

"Oh great," Zulon said turning to face the Mobians, "anyone else on the island that I need to know about? Amy? How 'bout Rouge?"

"What about Sal? What are you planning to do to fix this?" Sonic demanded.

"This is not my fault!" Zulon shouted, "I haven't spoken with her since our face to face meeting, so either Tatarin is lying or she was tricked into think I was the one who contacted her, I'll have my people look into it."

"Not good enough!" Sonic said pointing a finger in the boy's direction.

"What the fuck do you want from me!" the boy swore, "You want me to fly around Augustgrad aimlessly? Cause that'll be a great use of my time."

"Sugar-hog let's just go," Bunnie suggested, "He knows now, we should concentrate on continuing our search."

"Yeah...yeah you're right," Sonic admitted.

"Yeah that right! Kindly get the funk off my property," Zulon shouted at Sonic causing him to receive a dirty look from the hedgehog.

The Saiyan prince watched as the trio of Mobians walked away before Harpuia teleported in behind him.

"Master?" the Reploid asked.

"See to it that they are escorted off the island," he said having been conversably vexed by the experence.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Shakedown - Part 1

Location: Prime Minister's Residence

Afternoon, two days later...

* * *

It was early in the afternoon when Sonic stumbled in after having spent all night searching for any sort of clue that would lead him to Sally, but had unfortunately come up empty handed, not that he had expected to find anything, searching as simply better then just sitting around and waiting.

"Hey Sonic," Tails called out as the hedgehog walked pass the den that was occupied by his friends and headed upstairs.

"This bites," Mighty said angrily, "Sally's out there and we can't do anything."

"Oui," Antoine said in agreement, "Zer must be sometink we can do, non?"

"That's something, Sugar-Twan," Bunnie corrected, "But yer right, sitting around isn't helping Sally-girl."

"And nether is running around aimlessly," Amy added as she stood by the window, "The police have already been and taken our statements."

"Yeah, but did they have to send that Cole Hickson guy?" Mighty asked to no one in particular, "seemed like that was in bad taste to see the cop responsible for Sonic's arrest to investigate Sally's abduction."

"Sonic sure wasn't pleased to see him," Amy said.

"...I've studied the video file that ODIN was able to dig up," Tails said after several moments of silence, "it looks like NICOLE was damaged during the abduction, that would explain why I haven't been able to make contact with her."

"Ah sho hope Sally-girl's alright," Bunnie murmured as Amy's cell phone suddenly rang.

The pink hedgehog removed her phone from her pants pocket and switched it on before raising the device to her ear.

"Hello?"

"I need to talk to Sonic," the voice on the other end replied, though it was clearly distorted through mechanical means.

"Who is this?" she demanded.

"Get me Sonic!" the voice repeated angrily.

"Okay, okay," she said and she exited the room.

After several minutes Amy arrived outside of Sonic's room and knocked on the door, receiving an angry, muffled response from the other side.

"Sonic there's someone on the phone for you," Amy said causing the disgruntled hedgehog to emerge from the room several seconds later, taking the phone from her.

"Hello?" Sonic asked tried and annoyed that what little sleep he would be getting had been disturbed.

"Come to the Vaalbara Club in Jackson Heights immediately, ask for Aeolus," the voice said before hanging up.

Sonic handed the phone back to Amy before headed back inside his room to grab his sneakers.

"You're not planning on going out again are you?" Amy asked.

"Leave it alone Amy," Sonic said as he slipped his sneaker on.

"Sonic, when was the last time you got a decent nights rest?"

"I SAID LEAVE IT ALONE!" Sonic yelled causing Amy to cringe, "...sorry. With Sal missing I'd rather be doing something productive...I promise when I get back I'll get some sleep."

"I know you do...just be careful okay," Amy replied.

"Don't worry Amy, I'll be fine," Sonic ensured.

* * *

Location: The Vaalbara Club

Fifteen minutes later...

* * *

If he hadn't been operating purely on fumes Sonic would've reached the Vaalbara Club sooner, but it hardly mattered now that head reached his destination. The Vaalbara Club was a swanky nightclub popular with the young adults of the Terran Republic and was located at the side of the road that eventually led directly out into the countryside. Sonic slowed to a stop and noted that the place looked closed with the exception of a non-descriptive, black haired man dressed in a black suit who was standing off to the side of the entrance and who immediately moved to block Sonic's path as he approached.

"We're closed," the man said, "Come back at seven tonight when we're open."

"I'm looking for Aeolus ," the hedgehog stated.

The man nodded and told the hedgehog to wait as he spoke into the microphone attached to his cuff sleeve individual when several minutes later the individual known as Harpuia emerged from the building.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice," Harpuia said, "Come, the master is waiting."

The interior of the building was a lot large then the exterior suggested since most of it was located underground, but instead of heading down to the dance floor Harpuia led him to the balcony that was situated overtop of the bar and overlooked the dance floor. Sitting at one of the tables looking over some paperwork was their benefactor; Zulon Eredas who was dressed in a pair of baggy black pants, a pair of black slip-on shoes, and a black hooded sweatshirt, while his monkey tail remained hidden under his clothes. Standing nearby was another individual with spiky brown hair with the fringe being a vibrant orange and orange eyes. He wore a black bodysuit with white fingers, white earpieces, a closed orange vest that left his stomach exposed, white pants that was held up by a thick brown belt, orange and yellow shoes, and a pair of orange boxing glove-like gauntlets. Sonic approached the table and slammed his palms down on top of its surface and knocking a half-full glass off in the process and causing the boy to quickly snatch it out of the air before it could hit the carpeted floor.

"Please don't do that," he said calmly as he placed the glass back onto the table.

"Tell me you found her," Sonic said.

"No...but considering they'd be the ones who would benefit the most from her disappearance I'd place my bets that the Vanu were involved," Zulon replied.

"You called me out here just to tell me that you haven't found her yet?" Sonic asked angrily.

"Would you let me finish!" Zulon snapped.

"Alright, alright!" Sonic replied.

"No I haven't found her, however I do know who would," he said.

"Who?"

"Dorian Baxter," Zulon replied, "The political leader of the Vanu Sovereignty."

"Wait...political? I thought the Vanu was just a political party," Sonic said.

"They have a militant wing, Dorian just happens to be the public face," Zulon explained, "The reason I called for you is because we're going to confront him."

"Where can we find him?" Sonic asked

"Tarsonis' capital city," he replied downing the remaining contents of his glass, "Hope you like long drives cause this'll take about four hours to get there, depending on traffic of course. If you got something to do I'd suggest doing it now."

"Naw I think I'm good, by the way are you even allowed to be here?" Sonic asked.

"I own this club," he replied.

"Um...isn't there laws against that sort of thing?"

"What are you a fucking cop?" the boy questioned, "Fefnir!"

"Yes master?" the man beside him asked.

"Meet us at the limo," he said standing.

"Yes master," Fefnir said as he turned and departed.

"I'm gonna go take a leak," Zulon said, "Meet you outside."

* * *

Location: Tarsonis City

Four hours later...

* * *

Sonic glanced out the window of the limousine as it headed through the streets of Tarsonis' capital, but all he saw was closely packed buildings and elevated train tracks that cast a dark shadow over the filthy looking streets.

"The Gutter...what a shit-hole," Zulon commented, "Any time I come down here I feel like I need to take a bath."

"Kinda fitting considering it looks like a dump...you sure we can find Dorian Baxter here?" Sonic asked.

"Hang on...Phantom, do you have a bead on our target?" Zulon said speaking into a wrist-mounted Comm. link.

"Target is currently located at Kenshi Kafé," Phantom replied.

"Good...keep him in your sights and keep us updated," Zulon ordered.

"Understood."

"...Alright so what the plan," Sonic asked.

"All you need to do is sit and look pretty," Zulon said as they entered the Gutter's Kistios District, "Everyone else knows what they're doing. Follow my lead and try not to cause trouble."

"Gee you make it sound like I'm some sort of impatient hothead," Sonic commented.

"This coming from the guy who showed up at my place then tried to pick a fight," Zulon retorted.

"We have arrived at our destination," the driver reported.

"Pull the car around back and start the engine after ten minute have elapsed," Zulon ordered as he opened the door and climbed out, inserting an ear piece into his ear.

Kenshi Kafé was a large Japanese-style bistro with a number of tables located on the patio where numerous individuals were enjoying a meal or drinking tea. Zulon and Sonic headed inside with Harpuia taking up the rear and found themselves standing in a large room with a large bar along with several booths. They selected one of the booths and slipped into one of the many before being served by one of the waitresses with Zulon ordering take out.

"So where's Baxter?" Sonic asked.

"There," Zulon replied pointing behind him with a thumb over his shoulder.

Sitting two booths behind them was a black haired man with a faint bald spot at the back of his head, and dressed in a dark suit, while a pair of "lady friends" were seated in seat across from him.

"Master I am in position," Phantom said via the earpiece.

"As am I," Fefnir added.

"Hold you positions until I give the signal," he whispered.

The waitress returned with the takeout order and departed, but Zulon made no attempt to move, instead waiting for five minutes to elapse before finally doing so and headed over to Doran Baxter's table with Sonic and Harpuia following close behind.

"Hundred credits for each of you ladies if you just leave now," Zulon said removing a pair of credcards from his pocket and laid them down on the table.

The two woman looked at the credcards then looked at each other before standing and taking the credcards with them.

Zulon and Sonic took a seat across from the leader of the Vanu Sovereignty's political wing and watched as anger flashed across his face while Harpuia remained standing in order to prevent him for getting up and leaving.

"That's it," Dorian said, "next time I go to establishments that only cater to humans."

"We know that it was the Vanu behind Princess Sally's disappearance," Zulon said calmly, "you're gonna tell us where we can find her."

"Like hell I would," Dorian said, "even if I need know where she is, I wouldn't tell the like of you. Though I do envy those responsible for getting the job done. It's made my life easier."

"How could you say something like that you scumbag," Sonic hissed, his anger flaring up.

"It's your kind who've ruined this once great nation of ours," Dorian snarled, "We are the Terran Republic, Mobians should never have been permitted citizenship."

"What about the Overlanders, huh?" Sonic demanded.

"They are our genetic descendents thus it is only fitting that we welcomed them with open arms. You, we have no relation to you and your kind," Dorian explained with words filled with hate.

"This isn't getting us anywhere," Zulon thought to himself as Dorian and Sonic continued to exchange words.

They were well out of ear shot of the other patrons who were completely oblivious that there was anything was taking place worth watching, but a quick glance around the room and Zulon noticed several individuals were in fact watching them.

"Typical that Dorian would have a security detail consisting of racists like him. This is gonna get tricky," he thought as he removing a PDA from his pocket and fiddled around with it until he found what he was looking for, "That's a lovely outfit your wearing."

Zulon showed the PDA to the Vanu leader causing a look of shock to appear on his face which was quickly replaced with rage.

"That was for a Halloween party!" Dorian snarled, "and how the hell did you get into my home?"

"Hey, it's not my you leave photos of you cross dressing just lying around your apartment, you really need to lock your door, anyone could've just walked on in and found them," Zulon replied smugly, "and you say it was for a Halloween party but why are they time-stamped from last February?"

Anger took control of Dorian Baxter as he seized a nearby drinking glass and threw the contents into the Saiyan Prince's face. Zulon slid his tongue across his teeth and raised his right hand to his face to wipe away the liquid while whispering into his Comm. link.

"Proceed," he said.

At first nothing happened but then the sprinkler system suddenly kicked on sending patrons running for the safety of the outdoors. Fefnir had done his part and now it was up to Harpuia who immediately grabbed Dorian by the back of the head and slammed his face into the table before hauling him to his feet. Zulon got to his feet with Sonic following suit, shocked at what had transpired as Harpuia dragged the Vanu leader towards the kitchen where they were met by Fefnir who led them through the restaurant's kitchen and into the alleyway where the limo was waiting for them.

"What the hell!" Sonic shouted at Zulon.

"Shut up and get in, before his security detail figures out what just happened!" Zulon yelled.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Shakedown - Part 2

Location: Vanu Drilling Platform

Early evening...

* * *

Sally's head was swimming as she slowly regained consciousness and once again found herself strapped to a hard metal examination table, not that she needed to be secured considering the amount of drugs that they had been pumping into her system. She managed to turn her head and found that she had been hook up to an IV that was draining her of blood, leaving her light headed. She could see Dr. Burgess hunched over a nearby table as he busied himself with work.

"Where is everyone?" Sally asked finding the strength to speak.

"Oh...you're awake," Burgess said as he turned in his chair to face her, "The General has requested that all Vanu forces relocate to the primary staging area for Operation: Three-Headed Dog."

"So why are you still here?" Sally questioned.

"I must continue with my research," he replied, "in the event that your people refuse to leave Augustgrad we must have an ace in the hole."

"Is that why you're draining me of my blood?"

"I'm manufacturing a virus derived from your blood on the orders of the General," he replied.

"You're making a virus...from my blood!" she cried out feeling violated.

"That's correct. If you're people refuse to leave voluntarily we'll just introduce it into the water supply and then clean up what's left."

"You're-you're a monster, you're gonna commit genocide," Sally said.

"The media didn't call me the Butcher of Korhal for nothing," Burgess explained with a sadistic grim on his face.

"You don't have to do this," Sally said.

"Actually I do. You see three years ago I was caught for murdering nearly two hundred people. They sentenced me to death row for my crimes before General Tatarin stepped in, helping to fake my execution in return for serving him," Burgess explained, "That and the fact that he promised me that if I finished my research I'd be able to have my way with you."

"Wha-what!"

"Oh it's nothing like that, I'm not into bestiality, I just meant that I'll be able to see what makes you tick," Burgess said with a creepy smile, "I just want to cut you up into tiny little pieces."

* * *

Location: Tarsonis Metropolitan Highway

That same time...

* * *

The limo raced through the streets of the Tarsonis as the driver attempted to put as much distance between them and Kenshi Kafé as possible. So far they weren't being followed by any of Dorian's Vanu Security Detail, but Zulon was certain that it wouldn't be long before they would be catch up to them.

"I'll see you rot for this," Dorian hissed as he sat between Fefnir and Phantom on one side of the limo while Zulon, Sonic, and Harpuia sat on the other side.

"Tell us where Sally is and I won't have the car dumped into the ocean with you still inside," Zulon warned.

"You wouldn't dare," Dorian said.

"Try me big boy," Zulon said with a grin when the back window suddenly shattered causing the boy to frown, "...I do believe someone has a grudge against my back windshield."

"Looks like my compatriots are here," Dorian said with a wide grin on his face, "they're gonna cut your balls off."

"Oh shut up!" Zulon yelled as he slammed his foot into Dorian's face with such force that he was knocked unconscious, "Get us onto the highway!"

"Um...master, if we go onto the highway we'll be sitting ducks," Phantom stated.

"It'll be a lot safer for the pedestrians if we're on the highway and not on the streets of Tarsonis getting shot at," Zulon replied as he pressed a button on the armrest of his seat.

A section of the floor slid open revealing a compartment that contained a series of odd-looking objects that were hidden inside and Zulon climbed out of his seat and grabbed one of the object which unfolded into an assault rifle before grabbing what looked like a small cylinder and inserted it into the weapon and offered it to the hedgehog.

"Are you crazy! I'll never touch a gun!" Sonic stated.

"Whatever," Zulon said as he moved to the back window, "Sit there and be useless."

There was a single black Terra Cougar trailing behind them, but that soon changed when he noticed three more weaving through traffic as they attempted to catch up. They pulled onto the highway onramp, while their pursuers followed suit. One of the pursuing vehicles eventually drew close enough for the passenger to lean out the window armed with an SMG and opened fire. Zulon let loose with a burst of automatic gunfire aimed at the engine block and the tires causing the entire vehicle to swerve and crash right into where the highway decider began, ejecting one of the passengers through the windshield as the others continued the chase. Zulon cringed as he watched as the man flew through the air and hit the ground hard, rolling several times before coming to a stop and not getting back up as one of the chasing vehicles pulled up next to them. The boy-prince quickly responded by spinning around and slamming the butt of his weapon into one of the side windows as it rammed into the limo throwing everyone inside around like dice before he managed to get back to his feet and resumed defending the limousine by aiming at the attacking vehicle's gas tank. The resulting fireball let up the darkening sky and temporarily obscured his vision as he fumbled with his weapon in an effort to eject it's spent thermal clip.

"I need a thermal clip!" Zulon called out, "Fefnir, grab the Sniper Rifle and give me a hand."

"Yes master," he replied as he grabbed the weapon and took up position at the back window.

Zulon rearmed his weapon just as another vehicle pulled up next to them from the onramp as a two passengers leaned out the window with weapons at the ready while a third armed with a shotgun pointed directly at him fired off a shot. Zulon ducked the shot a retaliated by forming a disk made of pure chi energy in the palm of his left hand and hurled it at the vehicle.

"KIENZAN!" he screamed as the disk left his hand and sliced the back half of the car from the front neutralizing the threat they the occupants posed.

He heard Fefnir fire off several from the Sniper Rifle, aiming for the vehicles' engine blocks so that they couldn't continue their pursuit.

"Sir! Road block head!" the driver shouted.

Zulon glanced forwards and discovered a pair of cars where blocking their path while the occupants had armed themselves with military grade heavy weaponry in order to stop them at all costs.

"Ah crap," Zulon muttered as he tossed aside he weapon and charged up a blue ball of chi with electricity coursing through it in his right hand, "RYUU ARASHI TAIHOU!"

He launched the blast and it seared forward towards the blockade before creating a massive explosion that sent vehicles and people hurtling through the air while several others were sent over the highway itself and into the water below.

"CLEAR!" Zulon yelled.

"ARE YOU INSANE!" Sonic cried out, "YOU JUST KILLED THOSE PEOPLE!"

"Oh please that attack was at an eighth of its strength."

"They've given up chasing us," Fefnir commented.

"Good. Get us to Chau Sara, Dorian's gonna be a good boy and tell us what we want to know."

* * *

Location: Chau Sara Province

Night...

* * *

The limousine pulled off the Chau Sara Costal Highway and slowed to a stop at an abandoned truck stop that was located precariously close to the edge of the cliff. Phantom and Fefnir forced Dorian out of the car and herded him to the back of the building with Sonic, Zulon, and Harpuia following behind.

"You will not get away with this!" Dorian declared as he was shoved to the ground.

"Right, here's the way this works. I ask you a question, you tell me an answer. One question, one answer. I don't get the answer I like, we've got a problem. And if we've got a problem, you've got a problem. That clear?" Zulon asked as he pulled a pistol from his pocket.

"Um dude," Sonic said but was silenced by Harpuia.

"You don't scare me," Dorian snarled.

Zulon fired a single shot next to head of the Vanu Sovereignty's Leader forcing the man to cringe in response as the young Saiyan spoke.

"You think I'm bull shitting you? Where is she?"

"I'm not telling you where we have her," Dorian replied.

"So you do have her," Sonic said.

"Oh yes. For the time being we still have need of her, so she's safe," Dorian stated as he climbed to his feet and dusted himself off, "You and your filthy kind shall be purged from Augustgrad. And that blessed day is drawing near."

"Where is she you pond scum!" Sonic yelled.

"I'll never tell," he said with a smile as he tumbled backwards off the cliff and into the water below.

"NO!" Sonic cried out as he raced over to the edge, but he had already disappeared into the dark waters below, "Great. Just great, we've just lost our only lead."

"Not really," Zulon said stopping next to him while fiddling with his PDA.

"And how's that?"

"Now we know that the Vanu really were involved."  
"And that's gonna help us how?"

"Well...after I email some of Dorian's more personal photos to every news agency within the Terran Republic, I can begin my own investigation," he said as he turned to leave.

"And what am I suppose to do?" Sonic asked, "should I tell the Prime Minister what we learned...or didn't?"

"Yeah...cause abducting a sitting member of parliament will really go over well," Zulon said, "Just keep your mouth shut for the time being until I have more concrete information. Phantom, I want you to head over to Dorian's apartment and see if you can find anything that could tell us where Sally is or what the Vanu's plan is. Harpuia, when we get back home I want the car melted down."

"Understood," he replied.

"What about me? You're not seriously considering just leaving me out here?" Sonic asked.

"Oh please. You're the world's fastest hyper-sonic hedgehog, getting back to Central City shouldn't be that much trouble," Zulon said as he and the others teleported away.

"...wonderful," Sonic said with a sigh.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Despair and Hope

Location: Vanu Drilling Platform

Two days later...

* * *

Sally opened her eyes and was startled when she saw Dr. Burgess sitting beside the table that she had been lying on for days.

"Good morning Princess...I finished it," he said with a creepy smile, "Days of work have finally paid off. I managed to synthesized enough virus for the Vanu Sovereignty to purge your kind from Central City."

"You're talking about committing genocide," Sally said, "Don't you care about the lives your about to take!"

"Oh please you're talking to a mass murderer," Burgess said, "I have no compassion for others. Now what do you say about getting down to business?"

Sally watched as the doctor walked away and headed towards a nearby tool-chest and began gathering up a number of surgical tools.

"What do you think? Should I take a look at that pretty little brain of yours or just poke around in your guts?" Burgess asked.

Sally didn't reply instead she was fixated on the fact that despite the drugs that were coursing through her system she was now able to move the fingers of her right hand. It took a little effort, but soon she was able to form a fist by the time Burgess had wheeled the tool-chest to the left side of her table and quickly took note that none of the surgical tools didn't look like they had been properly sterilized.

"Yes! That look on your face is exactly what I've been looking for. I love that look," Burgess said noticing the look of fear on the princess' face.

The doctor leaned in close and Sally took the opportunity to roll over and sock him as hard as he could in the jaw causing him to stumble back in surprise, but quickly recovered and retaliated by slapping her across the face and began choking her with one hand. Sally had nearly blacked out from the blow but she managed to stay conscious, which unfortunately was doing her no good when she was being asphyxiated. Burgess fumbled for a scalpel with his free hand before raising it above his head in preparation to stab her when a pair of gunshots rang out. Burgess whirled around and looked to the door as it slid open and a man with blonde hair that was parted in the middle, bright blue eyes, and dressed in a white double-breasted suit, with a light gray turtleneck and black leather dress shoes stepped into the laboratory.

"Who the hell are you!" Burgess yelled as the man pulled a black 9mm from his pocket and put a bullet through his skull.

Burgess died before his legs gave out from beneath him, causing him to collapsed to the ground in a heap with an every growing pool of blood forming out from underneath his body. Sally watched as the man approached Burgess' workstation and noticed that he was grabbing several vials that contained the virus and placed them within a medical cooler that was resting on the floor. It didn't take long Sally to realize that he hadn't come to rescue her, he had come to steal the virus.

"What are you doing!" Sally demanded.

"Taking that which belongs to me," he replied with a coldness in his voice.

"Why? So you can use it against us just like the rest of your Vanu friends?" Sally questioned.

"What makes you so certain that I'm even an ally of theirs?" the man questioned, "The Vanu have served their propose."

"You...were using them?" Sally asked in surprise, "are you in league with Tatarin?"

"No. But Subject: Null has made a lovely pawn," he replied, " He thinks himself a Terran, but that couldn't be further from the truth. That was merely what we programmed him to believe," the man replied.  
"Wh-what?"

"He is a prototype for Project: Genesi," the man explained, "A project that is creating an army capable of manipulating Dark Energy."

"But why? Why are you doing this?" Sally asked.

"We are the Illuminati. From behind the scenes we controlled the lives of billions of people through governments and corporations and things were wonderful, until that bastard Kintobor ruined everything!" the man shouted.

"You're talking about Ivan Kintobor?" Sally said.

"And I was concerned I'd have to explain everything to you," he said, "Yes that one, the same one who was mentioned by the Alpha 100 Series Mechanoid; Isaac when your friends infiltration of the Ruins of Area 51 sometime ago, Dr. Ivan Kintobor the man responsible for nearly wiping out Humanity when he dissected that emissary dispatched by the Xorda. Humanity barely survived the cataclysm, while two new species; Mobians and Overlanders arose to become the dominate species on Earth. We shall do whatever it takes so that Humanity and only Humanity is the sole dominant force on the planet even if requires us to turn children into weapons and rely on unsavoury tactics in order to wipe all nonhumans."

"I and thought Tatarin and the Vanu were insane," Sally said defiantly, "But why would you want to wipe-out the Terrans and Overlanders? They're still Humans."

"The Overlander are mutants that require to purged, the Terrans on the other hand have had their Genome heavily altered by the environment, effectively making them a sub-species," the man explained removing something from his pocket.

"What about the United Federation?" Sally demanded.

"Apart from the few Overlanders that inhabited the United Federation they are pure human, along with the Commonwealth of Man and other settlements scattered across the planet. I do not fear you blabbing any of this Princess, you won't live to tell anyone. And with any luck New Mobotropolis will declare war on the Terran Republic when they learn that their Princess was killed. Should Subject: Null fail that is."

The man activated the device, which was little more then a high-powered satchel charge and flung it into the ceiling where it affixed itself before departing. Sally was left alone within the laboratory and quickly formulated a plan within her head as she rolled herself off the table and fell to the floor, pain radiating through her arm as she dragged herself to a nearby table where NICOLE was located. She tried to dig her nails into the surface, but even if she could her legs were still numb from the drugs so that she'd be unable to pull herself to her feet. Another plan formed in her head as she dragged herself to the back of the table and began pulling on one of the legs in the hopes of toppling it over. She focused all of her strength and succeeded in lifting up the table leg and sliding her hand underneath it, giving her the leverage she needed to lift it high enough so that gravity could take care of the rest. The toppled to the floor with a load crash, spilling its contents and causing NICOLE's computer form to go sliding across the floor. After briefly dragging herself across the floor until she had reached NICOLE and opened her.

"NICOLE!" Sally cried out as a holographic brown and black Lynx appeared before her dressed in a single-shoulder purple wrap dress.

"Sally, I'm so glad you're alright," NICOLE said.

"Contact the others, tell them we need help and fast," Sally ordered.

"I've been severally damaged, I can't send or receive transmissions and I can't even interface. I'm sorry Sally, we're trapped here," NICOLE said.

Panic rose in Sally's throat as she glanced at the ceiling were the explosive had already reached its five minute countdown.

* * *

Location: Eredas Estate

That same time...

* * *

Zulon let out an irritated sigh after spending hours looking through mounds and mounds of files that Phantom had seized from Doran Baxter's apartment and yet he was still no closer to finding where Sally had been taken to. He hadn't slept since he and Sonic had confronted Doran and he was still dressed in the same clothes that he had worn. His anger reached its boiling point as the young Saiyan suddenly kicked the table over in frustration, spilling papers all over the floor and leaving him more pissed off then he had been.

"Ah damn it," he sighed as he began picking up the papers.

One of the heavier files slipped from his grasp and spilled on to the floor causing his frustration to begin rising again when he noticed that a data disk had been uncovered. Picking it up he walked over the computer in the family room and inserted the disk, running a virus scan just to be on the safe side. The disk initiated autorun once the scan had been complete and opened a file that contained blueprints for some sort of Liquid Vespene Drilling Platform.

"Definitely not something that a sitting member of the United Assembly should own," Zulon said to himself, "given that it's potentially a conflict of interest. Adjutant, cross-reference all available data and get me a location."

"Processing request," the Adjutant replied.

It only took a second for the data to be processed and soon a Map of Augustgrd opened with a large red dot flashing on the screen at regular intervals.

"Wait a second...that here in Tyrador. She's been hidden right under my nose this entire time," Zulon said aloud as he ripped the desk drawer opened.

He removed a device; a scouter with a red eyepiece used by those who were unable to detect energy and attached it to the left side of his face before racing out the patio door, engulfing himself in a white aura, and taking to the sky, racing off at full speed.

* * *

Location: Vanu Drilling Platform

Four minutes later...

* * *

With only a minute before the bomb detonated and with no way of escaping or warning the others of Tatarin and the Illuminati Sally had resigned herself to her fate, but she soon found herself regretting a lot of the decisions that she had made in her life, among them was how she had her relationship with Sonic. The princess rested her head against the cold metal floor silently waiting for the end to come when a loud bang filled the air. At first she thought that the explosive device had gone off, but she heard her name called she turned to see Zulon standing in the laboratory with a section of the ceiling having been smashed through.

"Oh thank Aurora! Get me outta here, there's a bomb!" Sally screamed.

Zulon bolted forward and slung Sally over one shoulder as he snatched up NICOLE with his free hand and slid her into his pocket before blasting a hole in one of the walls and dashing through it as the bomb went off.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Darkness Falls

Location: Ice Mountain

That night...

* * *

Ice Mountain was neither covered in ice or a mountain, in fact it was nothing more then a massive stalagmite jutting out of the earth where Quarte Bras; Chau Sara's capital city had been constructed within its shadow. General Vasillj Tatarin stood on the slopes dressed all in black as he watched the twinkling lights of the metropolis below before continuing with his mission. Phase One of Operation: Three-Headed Dog was to enter the Flannum Installation which served as ODIN's Data Center and bring down the AI along with all of Augustgrad's internal and external communications. Once that had been achieved Commander Lars Trakken would be leading the Cerberus Troopers in an attack on the Dylarian Shipyards in order to neutralize the Terran Republic fleet. It only took five minutes for Tatarin to reach the installation's entrance which consisted of a small landing pad and a pair of heavy blast doors. There were numerous exterior sensors and cameras but they had already been dealt with when he destroyed the generator further down the 'mountain' essentially severing all of the facility's exterior communication. He removed a single Breaching Charge from his person and attached it to the door, setting the countdown for ten seconds before taking cover behind a nearby tree. Darkness became light as the charge exploded, blowing the door inward as Tatarin removed his AGR-14 Assault Rifle from his back and exited from cover. The interior of the facility consisted of a large motor pool that contained a single Siege Tank along with several Diamondbacks and Stingers. Tatarin seized the tank with his powers, lifting it high into the air and throw it clear across the motor pool, crashing into the other vehicles.

"Burgess was right," he thought to himself as he looked down at his hand, "the nanomachines are hampering my powers considerable."

He continued into the facility for sometime before finally being confronted by the security force consisting of three lightly armoured Infantrymen all armed with AGR-14's.

"What the! General Tatarin?" one of the soldiers asked.

Tatarin once again drew on his powers and charged forward, faster the mind could possibly comprehend and slammed his foot into the chest one of the soldiers sending him careening down the hallway and into a wall. He died even before hitting the ground, while his companions were unable to react as the General smashed his elbow into the second soldier's face and shot the third in the kneecap, sending him to the ground. Tatarin swung around and smashed the butt of his weapon into the still standing soldier's face with such force that it was reduced to hamburger meat, while the remaining one, still crying from being crippled was silenced with a bullet to the head. The rogue general continued through the facility, not expecting to run into resistance beyond the light infantrymen that were typically tasked with guarding installations, until he was confronted by a Firebat backed up by a pair of marines. Both marines wore standard issue CMC-400 Powered Combat Suit and were armed with C-14 Impaler, while the Firebat was wearing the newest model of the CMC-660 Heavy Combat Suit that had done away with the visor that the previous version, but left the servo system more exposed. The Firebat immediately ignited its arm mounted Perdition Flamethrowers and forced Tatarin to take cover behind a vending machine as he set the entire hallway on fire. The general was well out of the flames reach, but he could still feel the searing heat through the shimmering barrier that he had erected around himself. The flames could've melted his skin right off his bone and Tatarin knew that unless he did something to remove the threat that the Firebat posed he would not be able to proceed. The next thing he knew the facility's fire-suppression system kicked on, putting out the fires with fire-suppressing foam that clogged the Firebat's Incinerator Gauntlets. Tatarin stepped out from cover and seized a hold of the Firebat with his biotic powers and slammed him hard into the floor. The impact must've dislodged one of the fuel-lines within the suit because the next thing he knew the two marines were suddenly consumed by a large fireball, cooking them alive within their own suits. With that little inconvenience out of the way the general was allowed to continue deeper into the heart of the facility without coming into contact with the rest of the security forces. He would eventually reach a office section of the installation where numerous were busy working and began eliminating them in order to preserve their silence before reaching a large open chamber that contained a smaller sized chamber inside. All of the facility's security had gathered there at protect ODIN's Data Center at any cost, a medium sized army of Marines, Firebats, Light Infantrymen, Marauders awaited him along with a single A.R.E.S. Warbot. The security team immediately opened fire on him as Tatarin dashed behind a large pillar as a series of metal spikes embedded into the floor where he had been standing just moments before. One group of troopers began moving in order to flank him while the others kept him pinned down or so they thought until the general seized a hold of the A.R.E.S. with a biotic pull and dragged it across the floor, into his enemies and into the wall beyond. Those that were caught in its path were killed instantly upon being crushed by the warbot as Tatarin stepped out from behind cover and tossed a small ball of dark energy to the floor. The ball began spinning at a high rate of speed creating a miniature black hole that dragged the helpless soldiers into its gravity field. General Tatarin finished them off with a series of well placed bullets and the occasional grenade before proceeding to the smaller chamber which had been sealed shut to prevent access, but was easily rectified when he simply tore the door clean off with his biotic powers and stepped inside. ODIN's Data Center was comprised of numerous computer consoles and a large shaft of light that was the true form of the Observational Directed Intelligence Network.

"Good evening, ODIN," Tatarin said upon stopping at one of the consoles.

ODIN said nothing, instead his reply come in the form of several words that appeared on a small computer monitor.

GENERAL VASILLJ TATARIN, YOU DO NOT HAVE THE AUTHORIZATION TO BE HERE.

"I need no anyone's permission," he said.

YOU HAVE ILLIGALLY ACCESSED A MILITARY COMPLEX AND MURDERED THE ATTENDING STAFF; A CRIME CONCIDERED TREASONOUS AND PUNISHABLE BY DEATH.

"Can you really kill a dead man?" Tatarin asked.

YOUR WORDS MAKE NO SENSE.

"That all depends on whose saying them," Tatarin said as he removed a data disk from his pocket and inserted it into the console.

VIRUS DETECTED.

"I know," the general said.

VIRUS DETECTED.

VIRUS DETECTED.

VIRUS DETECTED.

VI...RUS DE...TECT...ED.

V-VRU-S D-D-D-D-DETEC-TED-TED-TED.

"ODIN, disable all internal and external communications for Augustgrad," Tatarin ordered.

COM...PLYING.

* * *

Location: Tarsonis

That same time...

* * *

Commander Lars Trakken sat within a large amphibious APC with short dirty blonde hair, green eyes, three scars running across his right cheek, and dressed in standard Cerberus Trooper armour (minus the helmet) as he peered through his infrared binoculars at the Dylarian Shipyards. The shipyards were a massive facility situated at the dockyards of Tarsonis' capital city where Terran Republic Fleet was constructed and repaired. The facility was one of the most heavily guarded in Augustgrad, second to HIGHCOM and with numerous Tesla Coils and missile turrets lining the entire dockyard made it all but impossible to infiltrate the facility from the water or the air without suffering heavy causalities. He took a quick glance at his HPIGNU; Handheld Personal Information-Gathering and Navigation Unit and watched as the device detected a loss of communication indicating that Tatarin had succeed in neutralizing ODIN. He had no idea how a single man was capable of breaking into a secure military facility and neutralize all of the guards and frankly he didn't care.

"Proceed with the operation," Trakken said into his long range comm. link.

Trakken returned his gaze back to the binoculars as he waited for the Vanu's sleeper agents to sabotage the generator that supplied power to the exterior defences and was soon rewarded by a series of brilliant explosion that light up the night sky.

"Defences are down," one of the Cerberus Troopers reported.

"Go...go...GO!" Trakken ordered as the APC began moving towards the dockyard along with several others and beached themselves.

The troopers were expelled from the transport and immediately went to work clearing the area of security with their C-14 Impalers. The security forces were caught completely off guard allowing the Cerberus Troopers to easily take complete control the harbour while only suffering minor casualties compared to the ones that the Republic suffered.

"Continue towards the dry-docks," Trakken ordered.

"Commander," one of the troopers said approaching him, "We've found something you'll want to see."

"...Lead the way," Trakken said with irritation in his voice, "change of plans, hold this point until I return."

The bulk of the Cerberus Troopers remained behind while the remainder went with Trakken as he was led to a large warehouse where a mechanized walker, larger then the Goliath was located. The unit had yet to see widespread use in the military, but he knew exactly what he was looking at: the Thor.

"Well...well," Trakken said rubbing his chin, "This is a rather interesting turn of events. This'll make the mission much easier."

* * *

Location: Dylarian Shipyards

Several minutes later...

* * *

SCV's rushed about the Dylarian Shipyards conducting repairs on the numerous Behemoth, Minotaur, and Hercules-class Battlecruisers that were locked in the facility's dry docks, while the sound of fusion welders filled the air. But that sound was soon obscured by a massive explosion that tore down the shipyard's main doors as the Cerberus Troopers stormed the facility, attacking the security forces with the Trakken piloted Thor taking up the rear.

"I never thought I'd be piloting a machine like this. I'm taking it home with me," Trakken said from within the cockpit as he fired as series Javelin missiles at the nearest docked Battlecruiser.

With the ship's shields down it was unable to stand up against the assault and was soon reduced to rubble as Trakken turned the machine's particle beams on an approaching Goliath, taking it out in a single shot.

"Oh baby! This is one finely built machine," Trakken said as he turned his attention to another Battlecruiser.

"Commander Trakken this is Command," a voice said via his headset.

"Go ahead," he replied.

"Three Hercules transports are en route to extract your team."

"Acknowledged," Trakken answered, activating the Thor's 250 mm Strike Cannons to take out a pair of Siege Tanks that were rolling towards him, "I want charges set. Let's get this place turned into a smoking crater."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Battle for the Citadel

Location: InOps, The Citadel, Urona

9:02am...

* * *

Lieutenant Kirce James sighed as she stared at the computer screen in front of her deep within the heart of the HIGHCOM's base of operation; the Citadel, which was situated on a small island called Urona that was located just off the coast of the Umojan capital of New Providence and connected via a single bridge. She was a young woman with long dark hair and dressed in a dark gray skirt suit and served as a communications officer for InOps (Intelligence Operations), but with communications throughout the Terran Republic having been disrupted there was really nothing to report. The various provinces had been rendered isolated and with ODIN no longer responding it made an already tense situation all the more disconcerting, especially with Dr. Eggman still loose in their territory. She turned her attention back to the numerous television screens that was currently displaying the Umojan News Service, the local UNN affiliate, News 3, BCN, W3N, United 1, KRLT, the TX Network, BBN, and a host of other news channels which served as her only source (and an unreliable one at that) of Intel.

"Anything?" a voice asked causing Kirce to turn and saw one of her fellow InOps co-workers standing behind her.

She was a Lieutenant named Sandra Telfair, a woman of Asian ancestry dressed in a similar uniform with shoulder-length black hair and dark eyes.

"Nope...still blind and deaf," Kirce replied.

"And ODIN?" Sandra asked.

"Still not responding, and the teams sent to investigate haven't reported in either," Kirce replied.

"Wonderful," she said as she turned away and noticed a man entering the InOps Center.

He was a man also of Asian ancestry with well groomed shoulder-length dark hair, dark eyes, and dressed in a black leather military uniform and it only took Sandra a moment to recognize who it was; Commander Kenji Tenzai, her fiancée.

"Kenji? What are you doing here?" Sandra asked

"I wanted to see you," he replied.

"Kenji, I'm on duty," she said with a smile.

"Oh just gag me," Kirce said annoyed.

"Maybe we can go out for a romantic dinner tonight? I knew a place over in Maastricht Plaza," Kenji suggested.

There was a burst of static that came from the television speakers and Kirce and Sandra watched as each screen went out, replaced by static.

"Oh great...now we have no cable," Kirce complained.

The screen continued to broadcast snow for several seconds until it was replaced by a grainy video of General Vasillj Tatarin.

"What the hell is Tatarin doing?" Kenji asked to no one in particular.

"This is a message to all military personnel, Operation: Three-Headed Dog is now commencing," Tatarin said.

"Three-Headed Dog? What the hell is that?" Sandra asked.

"FOR THE VANU!" someone screamed as the trio turned to see one female officer suddenly pull a gun and shot a fellow co-worker in the head before he even knew what was going on.

Someone screamed and the traitor responded by indiscriminately shooting anyone she could as several tired to take cover behind anything that would provide protection from the bullets. Kenji rushed forward and tackled the turncoat to the ground and wrestled her for the gun while others quickly lent their aid in restraining her before she took anymore lives. Kenji managed to wretch the gun free of her grasp and pistol wiped her across the temple, knocking her unconscious. A man soon rushed the InOps Center armed with an assault rifle and fired a spray of bullets that took the lives of three bystanders before Kenji managed to retaliate by putting three slugs into the attacker's chest. One of the operators raced over to the door control panel and initiated emergency lock-down that sealed the room until further notice.

"Where is General Granger?" Kenji demanded.

"Hasn't arrived yet," Sandra replied.

"Which make me the highest ranking officer here...wonderful," he said with a sigh, "Lt. James I want you to check our systems, I have no doubt that the Vanu have sabotaged them."

"Yes Commander," Kirce replied as she went to work, "but do you really think that they would be so bold as to attack HIGHCOM directly, sir?"

"It's clear that we've been infiltrated by their sleeper agents, I don't want to take any chances," Commander Tenzei replied, "Sandra, see if you can re-establish internal communications."

"Right away," she replied as she headed over to her station.

"I've gotten security camera access," Kirce reported, "bringing it up on the main screen."

The monitor had a large crack in it from a stray bullet but it still worked well enough to project video of several Hercules Dropships deploying trooper dressed in red armour and green Y-shaped visors in the courtyard along with several Goliaths. The Citadel's security forces moved to intercept the intruders, but without a proper coordination they were taken out and the Vanu continued their march towards the building entrance. A nearby holo-projector to activate and a small woman with long dirty blonde hair and dressed in a blue skirt suit appeared in a flash of blue light.

"Commander Kenji Tenzei," the woman said with a Manchester accent.

"Who are you?" he demanded getting a strange sense of déjà vu.

"I am the Electronic Video Agent also known as EVA," she replied.

EVA was an advanced, but rarely seen AI that over saw all of HIGHCOM's operations and it was alleged that she had been created from the cloned brain of Gerald DuGalle's granddaughter; Eva McKenna who had died in a tragic car accident six-year-ago. Looking at the AI's displayed avatar Kenji realized that he was indeed in the presence of a resurrected Eva McKenna, but he found himself wondering what possessed the Supreme Commander to green-light such a project.

"EVA," he said, "I need status reports."

"The Citadel is under a LEVEL 5 alert," she reported, "Internal communications are in disarray and Vanu Sovereignty forces have nearly taken control of the courtyard. There is are fires on levels four, five, and nine due to suicide attacks by Vanu Sleeper Agents."

"Shit," the commander cursed.

"Commander, I've just managed to re-establish communications," Sandra reported.

"Good. Eva, I want you to be prepared to wipe all sensitive data," Kenji ordered.

"Acknowledged."

"Good. Time for some payback."

* * *

Location: Urona

That same time...

* * *

Freelancer Tanya Adams fired her twin black Desert Eagles as she raced up the steps towards the Citadel; a massive triangular shaped tower that was made of black stone. She was a long blonde haired woman covered in soot with blue eyes and dressed in a brown sport bra and camo pants with a metal chain that had a single dog tag that dangled freely. In a nation that employed telepaths as assassins and commandos she was considered the best non-telepath agent the Terran Republic had at their disposal, unfortunately in the chaotic battle for the Citadel she found herself not much use. Several spikes buried themselves into the ground and Tanya was forced to throw herself behind cover to avoid getting maimed. She watched helplessly as one of the armoured soldiers who had been providing covering fire for his retreating comrades was suddenly being cut down when a metal spike fired from a C-14 Impaler gauss rifle smashed through the visor and exploded out of the back of his helmet. The soldier toppled over and crashed to the ground, his own gauss rifle falling from his grasp and slid across the cobblestones as blood began pooling out from beneath him. She spied the Impaler lying nearby and holstered her pistols before bolting out from behind cover and snatched up the weapon, firing blindly as she took cover behind a large marble monument. Tanya's hand was numb from firing the weapon, which only served to confirmed that Gauss rifles weren't meant to be used without that aid of a CMC Powered Combat Suit. A pair of Marauders rushed down the steps in an attempt to halt the intruders, but with the loss of the armoury, they were left them ill equipped to mount a proper defence and with the Starport destroyed they had no air support. Tanya bolted out from behind cover and rushed up the steps towards the Citadel where a large group of defenders under the command of General Horace Warfield had garrisoned the area in front of the Citadel's main entrance as the last line of defence. She reached a series of barricades and leapt over them and was greeted by a large man dressed in a desert camo painted CMC Powered Combat Suit that had three gold stars on the collar and a teal tinted visor that lifted up to reveal a dark skinned man with short cut gray hair and moustache.

"Agent Adams," he said.

"General Warfield, sir," she said saluting.

"Good to have you," Warfield said, "This is our last chance, we can't allow the Vanu to take control of the Citadel."

"The Vanu? They're the ones behind this?" Tanya asked in surprise.

"Came directly from Commander Tenzai," Warfield explained, "He was in InOps when one of the operators pulled a gun and shot several of her co-workers."  
"Oh my god! This is a coup isn't it?" Tanya asked.

"We're treating it as such, but until HIGHCOM is secured there's nothing we can do," Warfield replied, "We cannot afford to lose HIGHCOM."

"What about the Supreme Commander?" the Freelancer asked.

"He along with Vice Admiral Stukov have gathered a force and are clearing out the traitors inside the Citadel as we speak," Warfield replied, "We just need to make sure that no others get past us to reinforce their compatriots."

Tanya turned and discovered a group of the Vanu Forces had slipped past several of the defenders and were now making their way towards them. Warfield quickly snatched the Impaler from her grasp and fired several shots that ripped through one of the trooper's armour and sent him crashing to the ground as a series of Perdition turrets rose up and began spewing searing flames at the enemy. The rest of the defenders rushed over to provide back up as a single Goliath lumbered towards their position. Tanya looked around for something that could take down that combat walker when she spotted an E-11 lockdown device lying nearby and quickly snatched it up. Ghosts were primarily trained to use the device which in turn was used to disable vehicles, but in a situation such as the one that they found themselves in she wasn't about to let a potential assist go to waste. Tanya rested the device on her shoulder and aimed at the approaching Goliath, waiting for a lock-on to be confirmed before firing an electromagnetic blast that slammed into the mechanized walker and stopped it in its tracks. Another soldier, young and most like fresh out of boot-camp raced up to her armed with a rocket launcher and took aimed, reducing the Goliath to flaming wreckage and killing the pilot inside.

"Nice shot," Tanya said.

"Thank you ma'am," he replied.

Another Hercules Dropship was approaching, ready to deploy more troops to the Combat Zone when a series of Longbolt missiles slammed into the craft, sending it crashing to the ground.

"YES!" Warfield cried out, "Missile turrets are back online."

The sky became fired with explosions as the enemies aircrafts were caught in the firestorm forcing the remainder to retreat lest they be destroyed.  
"Ground forces are beginning a retreat," Tanya observed.  
"Excellent," Warfield said, "but you can be damn sure that our other facilities are under attack as well."

* * *

Location: Office of the Supreme Commander

Fifteen minutes later...

* * *

Leonid Celsus was a man dressed in a red uniform with short greying brown hair as he marched down the down through the maze-like hallways that made up the Citadel's Administrative Offices before arriving within a office, which appeared to have been ransacked. Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov was standing in the middle of the office dressed in a black military uniform as he looked over the body of one of the attackers. Celsus stopped dead in his tracks and saluted, catching the attention of the man.

"Sir."

"Good of you to make it, Leonid," Alexei said, his voice heavy with a Russian accent, "come with me."

The two entered an adjacent office that was much larger and dominated by a large set of windows that provided a spectacular view of the glistening steel skyscrapers of Umoja's capital city; New Providence. Standing in front of the window was a gray haired sixty-four-year old man with a receding hairline and dressed in a black military uniform. Admiral Gerard DuGalle; Supreme Commander of the Terran Republic Forces, he was an imposing figure and widely respected who had made a career of being in the military.

"General Leonid Celsus reporting sir," he said saluting.

"At ease," DuGalle said with an accent derived from French as he turned to greet him.

"You requested me, sir?"

"Indeed. I need you to deploy a Ghost Team to Central City to get the Prime Minister to safety, do you have anyone available?" DuGalle asked.

"Blue Team his here on site," Celsus reported, "They were undergoing their annual Weapon Proficiency Exam, I can have them deployed immediately."

"The order is given, General," the Supreme Commander said as he turned to a holo-projector that had been crudely set up in the corner of the room that displayed the image of General Horace Warfield.

"Warfield, is Project: Shadow Blade ready for deployment?" DuGalle asked.

"They are, what do you require of them?" Warfield asked.

"If the rest of our facilities have been attacked then I want them retaken."

"I'll need transport to Avernus Station," Warfield stated, "With communications still down I'll need to give the order in person."

"I'm sure we can get you some sort of transport," Alexei said, "Your Spectres might be the edge we need."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Death of Democracy - Part 1

Location: Eredas Estate, Madubin Island

10:41 am...

* * *

Zulon sat within the darkened bedroom with only the gentle, rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor to keep him company as Sally lay the motionless in the bed. When the Vanu-controlled Drilling Platform exploded she had taken a piece of shrapnel to the lung that required an emergency surgery to remove. She had nearly died on the operating table, but they had managed to resuscitate her and now she was currently in stable condition and on dialysis in order to filter the drugs out of her system, but she had yet to regained consciousness. He could hear laughter coming from outside causing him the climb out of the chair that he had been sitting in and made a short walk to the window in order to investigate. He could see Inari and Bajiru running around kicking a soccer ball around along with two others that he recognized. Both were Tanuki with dark brown hair, matching eyes, and wearing very limited clothing which consisted of little more then a red strip of cloth that hung between their legs. They were the twin sons of Arch Druid Lucas of the Bandit Clan and his cousins; Adam and Alec. He heard a groan and turned to see Sally moving amongst the bed sheets until she suddenly awoke and watched as she sat up with a great degree of pain.

"Don't move around too much," Zulon warned, "You were hurt and we had to perform surgery."

The chipmunk looked down and noticed that the top half of her chest had been wrapped up in heavy bandages.

"Oh god," Sally cried out in pain, "what happened?"

"You took a piece of shrapnel to the chest when that drilling platform you were held on exploded," he explained leaning against the open window, "You almost died Sal."

"...and the others? NICOLE?" she asked lying back down.

"I'm doing my best to repair NICOLE, as for the others they're worried sick. Sonic even showed up looking for a fight," he replied.

"He still cares...even when I so poorly ended our relationship," the princess murmured, before suddenly springing upright again, "...oh crap!"

"What is it?" Zulon demanded.

"You need to take me back to the capital, we need warn the Prime Minister," Sally exclaimed.

"You're in no condition to be going anywhere," Zulon said, "What's the rush?"

"Tatarin's a traitor, he's the mastermind behind the Vanu Sovereignty. He's plotting a coup," Sally explained.

"Might already be too late," Zulon said.

"Wh-what?"

"There's a communications blackout throughout Augustgrad," Zulon replied, "If Tatarin is planning a coup then this would be a perfect opportunity to enact it."  
"We need to warn the others," Sally said.

"Phantom's down in Graschek, I can beam the transmission through him and get it into Central," he said picking up the phone.

* * *

Location: Prime Minister's Residence

10:50am...

* * *

Sonic and the Freedom Fighters along with Molly and Leon Carmichael were seated within the den watching television, but the hedgehog would've rather been doing something productive like searching for Sally, but everyone about how running around aimlessly wouldn't help her. Amy's cell phone suddenly rang surprising everyone in the room that communication had been fixed as she quickly checked the caller ID which displayed an unknown number before answering.

"Hello?" Amy asked.

"Let me speak with Sonic, it's urgent," the caller said.

Amy handed over the phone to the blue hedgehog who immediately took it out of the room so as to

not disturb the others.

"Hello?" Sonic asked as he entered the foyer.

"It's me, I have her," Zulon said.

"Oh thank god," Sonic said, "Let me talk to her."

He heard the fumbling of the phone and soon heard Sally's voice on the other side.

"Sonic."

"Sal! Are you all right?"

"Sonic, listen to me carefully. Where's Carmichael?" she asked.

"At the United Assembly, they're voting again on the proposed alliance," Sonic answered.

"He's in danger. Tatarin was the one who kidnapped me, he's the one leading the Vanu Sovereignty, they're plotting a coup," Sally explained.

Sonic was about to open his mouth when the front doors were suddenly reduced to splinters as a mechanical feline appeared in the doorway. It made a highly mechanical screech as it lunged at Sonic knocking him to the ground and pinning his arms with its paws.

"Sonic? SONIC!" Sally cried out.

"Little busy here Sal," Sonic yelled at the phone.

"Get away from him," he heard Amy scream as she slammed her Piko Piko Hammer into the Cybercat, knocking it away.

"Thanks Amy," Sonic said as he hopped to his feet, "Look like the coup just started."

"Coup?"  
"It Tatarin, he's been masterminding everything," Sonic explained, "The Vanu, Sal abduction, everything."

The Cybercat suddenly climbed back to its own feet and began circling around them before finally lunging at them only to take a shotgun blast in mid-air causing it to crash to the floor. The two hedgehogs to turn to see Molly standing in the doorway to the den with the others holding antique double-barrelled shotgun in her hands.

"We need to leave," she said as several Cerberus Troopers stormed into the foyer and aimed at them with their C-14 Impalers.

Molly reacted by firing a second blast from the shotgun at the closet troopers sending him flying out through the door as a large metal blast door slid out from a nearby wall and closed off access to the interior of the mansion.

"How'd you learn to shoot like that?" Amy asked surprised.

"Grandpa used to take me hunting when I was younger," she replied.

"We need to get out of here," Tails said, "I don't think that'll keep them out for long."

"Agreed. But we need to retrieve Freyja from my dad's office, she's got too much sensitive data stored to allow these bastards to get their hands on her."

"It's Tatarin and the Vanu," Sonic said, "They were the ones who kidnapped Sal."

"Is she alright?" Mighty asked.

"She's safe with Zulon," he replied.

"Quick! Let's get to my dad's office," Molly suggested as he began running up the staircase with the Mobians following suit.

They could hear the sound of battle coming from outside along with the occasional explosion when they finally reached the Prime Minister's Office.

"Close the door," Molly ordered Mighty.

The Prime Minister's daughter walked over to the bookcase and pushed one of the books inward causing bare section of wall within the room to suddenly slide away revealing Freyja's datacenter.

"Freyja," Molly said causing a woman with long golden hair and dressed in white to appear via a holo-projector.

"Emergency! Estate had come under attack," she reported.

"No duh," Sonic said.

"Freyja, prep all sensitive data for immediate deletion and prepare for extraction," Molly said.

"Authorization Code required," the AI stated.

"Sigma-Tango Four," she replied.

"Authorization Code accepted: Deletion in progress," Freyja reported.

"We're sitting ducks here," Tails said with Gill hanging from his shoulder.

"Relax," Molly replied, "We'll be out of here soon."

"Deletion complete...prepping for extraction," Freyja reported.

Molly entered the chamber and watched as Freyja's holographic form dissipated and the holo-projector deactivated as a Data Crystal Chip slid out of the device.

"Got it," she said retrieving the chip and leading the group into another room that was adjacent to the office.

"Oh yeah," Sonic said sarcastically when he realized they were in a bathroom, "they'll never think of looking for us here."

"Shut up and get into the tub," Molly said as she punched a series of numbers into a nearby keypad.

They all climbed into the bathtub and Molly proceeded to grabbed a hold of the lever for the shower and turned it up before pulling it towards herself causing the shower door to swing close as the grinding of gears filled the air as the shower descending into the floor.

"An elevator?" Amy asked in surprise.

"In case of an emergency, such as the one we currently have found ourselves in," Molly said.

"Papa always said that if anything were to happen we were to use it to run away," Leon added.

"Why do ah get a feelin' that this has happened before," Bunnie said.

"It's a standard safety precaution," Molly replied, "wouldn't do us any good if our leaders were killed."

The elevator reached its destination and the door swung open revealing a small underground parking garage with a waiting APC.

"I'll drive," Molly said.

* * *

Location: United Assembly

Twenty minutes earlier...

* * *

Prime Minister Victor Carmichael stifled a yawn as he was forced to suffer through one of the opposition MPs attempt to fault the Mobians for Eggman's infiltration of their territory. It was an utterly baseless accusation, but it didn't surprise him that someone had the gull used that as a reason why they should not ally with the Republic of Acorn against the threat that the Eggman Empire posed. The Vanu Sovereignty's elected members still not present since it appeared that Dorian Baxter's orders that they not show were a standing one. The Assembly suddenly erupted in shouting causing the Speaker of the Assembly to attempt to get the situation back under control and back on to the topic at hand.

"Silence! We will have silence!" the speaker declared.

It took several minutes for silence to descended upon the assembly, but soon even that was shattered when three gun shots rang out outside the chamber. Carmichael turned towards the door and watched as it suddenly flew open as Dorian Baxter, Tamsen Cauley, and two armoured troopers entered. Dorian pulled a pistol from his jacket and fired it into the air and caused the chamber to suddenly erupted in terrified screams as several of them covered their heads.

"EVERYBODY OUT!" Dorian ordered, "...except for you Prime Minister, you stay right where you are."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Death of Democracy - Part 2

Location: Central City

Late morning...

* * *

Central City was burning as thick black smoke rose up from the buildings caused by the deployment of numerous B2-C 75 pound concussion bombs that had been dropped by a dozen Grizzly Bombers, while the ground vibrated occasionally at the impact of numerous shockwave missiles fired from several AH/G-24 Banshee Tactical-Strike Aircraft. Cauley's Cerberus Troopers had surrounded the Prime Minister's residence but had been shut out by the security system and were now trying to force their way into the building. One of the troopers standing guard outside the compound heard the revving of an engine coming from inside the estate grounds and turned in time to watch as an Armoured Personnel Carrier suddenly jumped the fence and landed on top of him.

"Ah crap, did I just hit someone?" Molly asked as she shot down the street going ninety miles an hour.

The other nearby Cerberus Troopers weren't about to let them escape and fire several Impaler spike that simple ricocheted off the armour as Molly steered the vehicle around a corner.

"Um...are you sure those things won't get through?" Sonic asked from the back of the vehicle as several more Impaler rounds ricocheted off of it.

"There's six inches of Battlecruiser-Grade Neosteel between us and them," Molly said, "It'll take high-explosives to crack this thing open."

"Let's hope they don' figure that out," Bunnie said from the passenger seat, "what about you're step-mother?"

"Thankfully Miranda's in Quarte Bras visiting friends," Molly replied.

Panicked citizens were running through the streets trying to escape the carnage, forcing Molly to slow the vehicle down considerably in order to avoid hitting anyone when another Grizzly flew overhead, strafing the street with its 30 mm Hellsworn flak cannons.

"This is insane!" Sonic cried out, "They're killing civilians."

"They're trying to pound the population into submission," Molly said, "less likely to fight back that way."

There was another explosion and they watched as one of the buildings suddenly came crumbling down, raining concrete, metal, and glass down into the streets.

"Mon dieu!" Antoine screamed as Molly stomped on the breaks in order to avoid crashing into a large slab of concrete that had fallen into their path.

"I can see that the taxes are gonna go up," Molly said dryly as she shifted the vehicle into reverse and swung it around before tearing off in the opposite direction.

The APC screeched down a narrow side-street after just narrowly escaping a pursuing Siege Tank only to be blocked by an abandoned squad cruiser.

"Brace yourselves!" Molly hollered as she floored it.

The APC slammed into the side of squad cruiser causing it to flip over, rolling several times before crashing through the front window of a clothing store.

"That was my favourite boutique!" Amy cried out as the APC swerved out into the street and continuing their mission.

"Open the hatch. I can get to the UA faster on foot," Sonic stated.

"Out of the question," Molly said, "you'll be killed if you go out there, I don't care how fast you are."

The domed rooftop of the United Assembly was coming into view and it would be long before they arrived at their destination when what appeared to be a single figure stand in the middle of the road. The person appeared to be a corpse that had been heavily modified with numerous cybernetics that covered over 70% of its body as it suddenly leapt 20 feet into the air and landed on the hood of the APC.

"HOLY SHIT!" Molly screamed as the cyborg smashed it's arm cannon through the bulletproof window.

Bunnie reacted first and transformed her left arm into its arm-cannon function and fired a blast that stunned it momentarily allowing Molly to slam on the breaks and sent it flying off. The cyborg hit the pavement hard, leaving a large indentation from the impact, but it almost immediately climbed back to its feet. Molly floored it and sent the APC rocketing towards it as the cyborg fired a blast from its EMP Cannon that disabled the vehicles electronic systems. Molly tried to swerve out of the way, but overcompensated causing the APC to flip on to its side and slid down the street going sixty miles an hour, mowing down the cyborg along the way. The APC slammed into a lamppost and was sent spinning, crashing into a taxicab before finally coming to a rest outside the United Assembly.

"Ow..." Molly complained as she struggled to wipe the blood out of her eyes, "Is everyone alright?"

"Leon's out cold," Amy reported, "I'm alright however."

The others were quick to confirm that they had only sustained only minor injuries and were now prepared to take the fight to the enemy when the APC's rear hatch suddenly opened and a CCPD Officer was standing on the other side holding an assault rifle in one hand.

"Is everyone alright?" he asked causing Sonic to suddenly realize who it was.

"Oh god, not you again," Sonic said annoyed, "are you staking me?"

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Sergeant Cole Hickson demanded as a gunshot rang out causing him to duck in order to avoid being hit.

"My father," Molly replied as she managed to get into the back of the APC along with Bunnie.

"You won't be getting anywhere near the Assembly," Hickson stated, "We've got sharpshooters on the rooftop and Vanu agents got control of the front steps and the main lobby."

"Ez zere any otherz way in?" Antoine asked.

"The Assembly's blueprints indicate there's a maintenance access tunnel at the side of the building, but those damn snipers won't let anyone near it," Hickson replied, "and even if we could reach it we'd need an AI with proper security clearance to gain access."

"Wouldn't Freyja have clearance?" Amy asked.

"She would but there's still the problem of getting near the building," Molly said.

"Not a problem," Sonic said as he shot out of the APC.

The hedgehog made a beeline for the Assembly, while the snipers and troopers immediately opened fire, their shoots getting precariously close to hitting him and forcing him to retreat back across the street and take cover behind a pair of ambulances where the others had managed to gather.

"That worked well," Amy said dryly.

The area had been turned to a makeshift field hospital with several EMS personnel rushing about in a desperate attempt to save lives. One was performing chest compression in an fruitless attempt to resuscitate a female officer who had been shot in the chest, while another was tending to Leon who had regained consciousness and was now getting bandages wrapped around his forehead.

"W-what do w-we do n-now?" Ray asked.

"...I donno," Sonic admitted.

* * *

Location: Above Central City

That same time...

* * *

A single Pelecanidae Class Stealth/Assault Dropship moved silently through the burning skyline of Central City, invisible to the naked eye due to the salvaged Wraith cloaking device working in conjunction with the Cross-Spectrum Dampeners that had been built into the hull. Onboard were three Ghosts operatives; one man and two women attired in standard issue hostile environment suit complete with an eyepiece that allowed for infrared, x-ray, and night vision. They had been deployed by Ghost General Leonid Celsus on orders from Supreme Commander Gerald DuGalle to rescue the Prime Minister, a mission made all the more personal for one of them.

"This is Delta Sierra Echo...ETA 45 seconds," the pilot reported over the intercom, "all final check are advised."

Lio Travski, a bald headed Terran with a lanky physique reached down and grabbed a AGR-14 assault rifle and doubled checked the weapon, making sure that it was in working order before looking over at his companions. Checking the C-20A canister rifle that was in her hands was a lithe young woman named November but more casually known as Nova, while their brown skinned, black haired companion known as Kath loaded a magazine into a BOSUN FN92 sniper rifle.

"LZ is hot," the pilot reported, "can't deploy here."

"Open the hatch," Nova said.

"I can't deploy here," she repeated, "I'm taking us across the street."

"Open the damn hatch!" Kath shouted.

"We'll be exposed if I do that," she replied.

"Open the hatch, they can clear the LZ from here," Lio said.

"...I hope you guys know what you're doing," she said

Nova and Kath moved towards the hatch, their weapon's being more suited for long range combat as the pilot to open the hatch allowing them to see the United Assembly's rooftop helipad and took aim, dropping snipers with relative ease. The rooftop was cleared within a matter of seconds allowing the dropship to land on the helipad where it would remain as the three Psi-Ops Agents raced out of the hold and into the building.

"Lio, take control of the security office," Nova ordered, "Kath, make your way to the assembly chamber through the east wing, I'll go through the west wing."

"Understood," they said as they cloaked themselves and raced off to complete their respective objectives.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Death of Democracy - Part 3

Location: Central City

12:01pm...

* * *

Sonic peered out from behind a police cruiser that had been used as cover and noticed that all the snipers had been eliminated, their bodies having fallen off the rooftop now lay dead on the street. He wasn't sure what had just happened, all he knew was that the snipers were no longer an issue allowing the group to proceed to the maintenance access tunnel unmolested.

"You're not seriously considering going in there!" Sergeant Hickson shouted.

"Better then just standing around out here," Sonic replied as he rushed off with the others.

Molly reached the door to the maintenance access tunnel and removed Freyja's data chip from her pocket and inserted it into the door's keypad.

"Freyja, override security access," Molly ordered.

"Processing..." the AI reported.

The waiting was beginning to grow on Sonic's nerves and began tapping his foot in response, which in turn began to get on the nerves of everyone around him. It took several minutes but soon the keypad changed from red to green and the door's mechanisms began going to work before finally it suddenly slid up revealing a second door that slid apart before the third slid away allowing them access to a darkened tunnel.

"Are you sure it's safe?" Amy asked peering inside.

"Safer then going through the front doors," Molly replied as she slid Freyja's data chip back into her pocket.

"Well standing here isn't gonna get us to the Prime Minister," Tails commented.

Sonic agreed with Tails and was the first to step into the darkness followed by the others.

* * *

Location: United Assembly

That same time...

* * *

Lio Travski leaned out from behind cover but was quickly forced to duck back behind it as a blaster bolt flew past and hit the wall at the far end of the hall, leaving an ugly-looking scorch mark on its surface. He had anticipated that he would only need to face members of the Vanu Sovereignty, but what he found instead was cyborgs patrolling the between him and the security office. He had already sent a telepathic message to the others warning them of the cyborgs and the fact that they could detect them even while cloaked, which made their mission all the more difficult. Lio switched to his weapon's grenade-launcher function and fired off one at the closest cyborg, blowing him to pieces and fired off a stream of bullets at the other cyborg as he charged towards it and sent it crashing to the ground as he continued towards the security office. It was fortunate that the cyborgs were few in number and much of the building had to be guarded by Cerberus Troopers which were easy enough to bypass without worry. He had carefully made his way to the security office that contained only a single guard and slipped inside as he snuck up on the man. Lio kicked the trooper in the back of the kneecap as he feel to his knees, while the Ghost quickly seized him by the head and with a jerk he snapped his neck. Lio felt the man die in his arms and he laid him down on the floor and stepped over his body where the security console was located. Lio was a Technopath which meant that he could directly interface his mind with electronic systems and he was one of the rare few to possess such an ability. He deactivated his cloaking device and placed one hand on the surface as the numerous CCTV monitors within the room activated allowing Lio to view the interior of the United Assembly from the safety of the security office.

"Oh no," he murmured as he caught a glimpse of one of the monitors.  
It was of the Ambassadors companions who had somehow gotten into the build and were travelling through one of the maintenance access tunnel beneath the building.

"Uh...Nova? We got a problem," Lio said as he projected his thoughts to his companion.

"What?" her reply came.

"The Ambassador's companions are in the building, I think they're trying to rescue the Prime Minister," he replied.

"Where are they?" Nova asked.

"In the maintenance access tunnels, they're gonna walk straight into the Firebats that are patrolling down there."

"What's the quickest route to them? I'll go down and help."

* * *

Location: Maintenance Access

Several minutes later...

* * *

Amy winced as another droplet of foul smelling water fell from one of the numerous corroded pipes overhead and splashed against her fur. The tunnel was filthy, cold, and even with Gill providing illumination it was still dark enough for someone to step into a puddle without realizing and wind up having their shoes completely soaked.

"How much further?" Tails asked.

"No idea," Molly replied, "These tunnels are technically restricted so I've never been down here before."

"Great," Sonic muttered as he trudged along.

"I'm worried about Papa," Leon said.

"I know," Molly said comforting her step-brother, "I'm worried about him too."

As they continued through the tunnels they heard soft thumping that was growing closer and closer until they came face to face with the hulking form of a Firebat. The soldier was wearing the modern CMC-660 armour that had been the bases for the 5-4 Armored Infantry Suit used by the Marauders but retained the helmet of the original. Molly fired a blast from the shotgun that struck the Firebat in the shoulder, but only served to irritate the soldier as he ignited his Incinerator Gauntlets and spewed a wall of flame at them causing the group to take cover in a nearby alcove.

"What is that thing?" Sonic called out over the roaring flames.

"Firebat," Molly shouted back, "Stay behind cover or you'll be cooked alive."

The Firebat deactivated his Gauntlets and began moving again, his feet thumping against the concrete floor as he moved towards the intruders. Sonic peered out from behind cover and noticed a blonde haired figure sneaking up behind the soldier before leaping up and latching on to the overhanging pipe and threw her legs over his shoulders and triggered release for the visor. A look of shock appeared on the man's face as the woman pulled out a grenade, popped the pin, and tossed it inside of his helmet before sealing the helmet shut and back flipping off the soldier. The man's panicked screams could be heard as he struggled to trigger the suit release but were silenced by a muffled explosion as the Firebat crashed to the floor as the woman climbed to her feet.

"If the outfit was any tighter it'd be painted on," Sonic thought to himself as he took notice of the tight-fitting gray hostile environment suit that showed off a few too many curves.

"I heard that," she said.

"Oh shit, did I say that out loud?" Sonic thought to himself.

"I heard that too."

"She's reading your mind," Molly said, "she's a Ghost."

"I recognize you," Tails said, "We met you at the museum reopening."

"That's right," she confirmed, "My name is Nova."

"So you a Ghost, eh," Molly said, "I'm assuming you were dispatched to rescue my father."

"Under orders from DuGalle himself," Nova stated, "But let's not stand around here and talk. C'mon I know the way out."

The group followed Nova for several minutes coming across numerous other Firebats that had been skilfully taken out until they reached a large steel door when Lio projected his thoughts to her.

"There's three Cerberus Troopers on the other side," Lio said.

"Got it," she replied back.

Nova slide her goggles over her eyes and switched the setting to x-ray mode, allowing her to see the enemies right behind the door as she planted a foot against the wall and aimed at the door with her rifle. Infrared would have been easier, but it didn't allow her to see through solid walls which meant that her knowledge of anatomy would see some use after all as she put a bullet through the door. The trooper standing on the other side was struck in the heart and died immediately, his companions where left stunned at what had just happened as Nova put another bullet through the door, this time striking one of the troopers in the head. The third trooper, now aware of what was going on rushed the door as Nova fired three consecutive shots before kicking the door open and putting the man down with a forth.

"Damn! How'd you know they were there?" Sonic asked.

"One of my companions is in the security office, he gave me the heads-up," Nova replied as she lead them down the hallway, "The Assembly Chamber is this way."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Escape

Location: Assembly Chamber

Afternoon...

* * *

"You are no longer fit to lead this nation, Prime Minister," Tamsen Cauley said.

"Cauley. You friggin' traitor," Carmichael snarled defiantly.

"Oh I was never on your side, Carmichael," Tamsen said, "I was recruited by the Vanu long before I ran as an MP for your party."

"We'd demand that you order the Mobians to be deported, but we're well aware of how stubborn you can be without some form of incentive," Dorian said.

"I still have the launch codes to the missiles from when I was still Defence Minister and I'll have one settlement destroyed until you agree to our conditions and to prove that we're not joking say goodbye to Graschek," Cauley said pulling out his phone and pressing a button.

A holographic video appeared before the Prime Minister displayed the Town of Graschek and he could make out the people who were going about their business, unaware of what was about to happen as a missile slammed into the ground and reduced all but one of the buildings to rubble.

"YOU SADISTIC BASTARD! 2,889 PEOPLE CALLED THAT SETTLEMENT HOME!" Carmichael screamed in outrage.

"And now it would seem that the population has had a sudden decreased," Cauley said.

"Consider yourself luck that those were ballistic missiles and not nuclear," Dorian stated, "What do you say Prime Minister, care to give in to our demands or do we need to wipe-out another town to get our point across?"

"NEVER! The Terran Republic will never surrender to terrorists," Carmichael retorted.

"We're not Terrorists," Dorian said, "We consider ourselves Freedom Fighters."

"You're a bunch of thugs, that's what you are," he shot back.

"I can see that you won't make this easy," Dorian said, "Cauley, target Quarte Bras."

"What? Since when the hell did you start giving the orders?" Cauley asked.

"I'm the leader of the Vanu Sovereignty," Dorian replied.

"The hell you are," Cauley snorted, "You answer to Tatarin like everyone else."

"I'm looked to for leadership," he snapped, "Now launch the damn missile."

"NO! YOU CAN'T," Carmichael screamed.

"Oh. Someone there we need to know about? Your wife perhaps? Yes we know that she's down there visiting friends...launch the missile."

"You have something on your face," a female voice said as the words penetrated the minds of the three men.

Tamsen Cauley and Dorian Baxter's eyes widened in horror as a gunshot echoed throughout the Assembly Chamber followed by a bullet that ripped through the front of Cauley's head, turning it into a crimson cloud.

"Oh shit! Oh shit," Dorian cried out as Cauley's headless body toppled over backwards.

Carmichael grabbed a hold of his cane and swung for Dorian's head, but the political leader of the Vanu Sovereignty dodged the swing and pulled out his handgun, firing several rounds at where the bullet had come from before taking off towards an emergency exit.

"Crap," Kath swore to herself, "I was trying to hit them both."

She immediately kicked the chamber door open and fired three shots at the fleeing traitor but the first two missed while the third grazed his shoulder causing him to stumble before he threw himself out of the emergency exit and disappeared. Another door to the Assembly Chamber was thrown open as Kath swung her sniper rifle around to face the intruders only to discover that it was Nova along with the Ambassador's friends.

"Damn it Nova, I nearly shot you," Kath complained.

"Are you alright, Mister Prime Minister?" Sonic asked racing down the steps to meet him.

"I'm fine," he replied, "what's the situation?"  
"Tatarin stage a coup and was the one who had the Princess abducted," Molly said as she and Leon approached their father.

"I'm glad you're alright," he said as he hugged his children.

"Central City's being overrun and HIGHCOM came under attack earlier today, but we successfully defended against the invasion," Kath reported.

"Damn it!"

"I would strongly suggest that we get out of here uncle," Nova said approaching, "before Baxter calls for enemy reinforcements."

"I'm not leaving my people," the Prime Minister stated.

"Um...no offence Prime Minister, I respect your desire to stay here for the sake of your people, but now isn't really the best time to become a martyr," Sonic said.

"...Of course you're right," Carmichael relented, "how do you suggest we get out of here?"

"We've got a Pelecanidae Class Stealth/Assault Dropship waiting for us on the roof," Kath said, "I suggest we link up with Lio and evacuate to Umoja."

"...very well, lead the way."

"Here dad," Molly said removing Freyja's datachip from here coat pocket and slipping it into her father's hand.

"Good girl," he said, "I'm not gonna even ask about what you're doing with my father's antique shotgun."

"Better you don't," she replied with a smile.

The two Ghost agents led the way, battling through several Ceberus Troopers and Cyborgs before the group reached Lio who was taking cover in an alcove near the door to the rooftop helipad, taking pot shots at any enemy that had the guts to get too close.

"'Bout time," Lio said, "I've only got one clip of ammunition left."

"Don't worry we're leaving," Nova said, "Lead the way, Kath and I will cover our flank."

The group followed the bald headed Ghost into the stairwell and began a long climb to the helipad. Carmichael wasn't in any condition to be climbing stairs, but reframed from voicing any complaints as he continued the long climb to the helipad. After several minutes Lio reached the door that led to the helipad and kicked in the door, sweeping his rifle about as he scanned for any threats lurking about before motioning for the others to follow him to the waiting dropship.

"Get us airborne," he demanded to the pilot once everyone was secured.

"Rodger that," replied the pilot as she started the engines.

The entire ship vibrated as it lifted off from the helipad and took off through Central City's burning skyline.

"Safe at last," Sonic said exhaling.

"Hardly. We're not out of the woods yet," Nova said.

"We've got enemy Wraiths inbound," the pilot reported.

"Me and my big mouth," Sonic said.

"Toldja," Nova said.

"Initiating cloak in...three...two...one..."

A series of Gemini Missiles slammed into the side of the dropship causing warning alarms to drown out every other sound in the belly of the ship.

"We're going down...repeat, we're going down. Brace for impact!" the pilot declared.

The pilot struggled to keep the ship airborne as she steered the aircraft beyond the outskirts of the city and along the Mar Sara's Coastal Highway for several minutes before clipping a tree trunk and slamming into the ground, breaking up into pieces before coming to a rest near another tree.

* * *

Location: Prosser's Well

Dusk...

* * *

Sonic awoke, pain tearing through his body as he struggled to sit up, but found that the pain was too overwhelming as he glanced around the pitch black room.

"Don't move around too much Sonic," a voice belonging to Amy explained.

"Amy?" Sonic asked looking over to see the pink hedgehog kneeling on the floor at the side of the bed.

"I tried patching you up as best I could, but there's only a limited amount of medical supplies here," she said.

"Where-where are we? Where are the others?" Sonic asked.

"The others are alright, we sustained minor injuries."

"We're currently at Prosser's Well; an abandoned motel along the Coastal Highway. You were lucky that I was nearby to pull you and your friends out of the wreckage, pilot died in the crash however, impaled through the chest by a tree branch," voice, clearly an Eastern European dialect said from the other side of the room.

Sonic rolled over on to his side and noticed a red light that occasionally winked on and off floating within the shadows in the corner of the room.

"Who are you?" Sonic demanded.

The light suddenly rose up and began bobbing about as a woman with pink hair that was clearly dyed and dressed in black combat gear stepped out revealing that the light actually belonged to a ocular cybernetic that replaced her right eye.

"You may call me Mira Han," she stated as the door to the room opened revealing two figures.

"Miss Han?" a voice belong to the Prime Minister asked.

"Ah Prime Minister, glad you are awake," she said.

"Nova here say you have intelligence that would be of use to us."

"Indeed. The Vanu Sovereignty have successfully taken control of the capital, but they find themselves with stiff opposition. The Dylarian Shipyards were hit by Vanu Saboteurs effectively severally hampering our air support. The bridges leading into Mar Sara have been destroyed effectively cutting the province off any assistance, while the various military instillations have fallen under Vanu control," Mira explained.

"Warfield has initiated Project Shadow Blade in an effort to retake those facilities and before we were deployed DuGalle ordered Fleet Admiral Gaskaville to trying to scrape together a fleet to retake Central," Nova added.  
"So now what?" Sonic asked.

"That dropship was suppose to get us to Umoja. With it destroyed we'll have to fall back to Los Andreas and meet up with another that'll be deploy to that location in three days."

"The let's get moving," Sonic said struggling to get up.

"I would suggest you rest up," Mira suggested, "Best to let your wounds heal first and then worry about catching your flight."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Assassination

Location: Central City

10:29pm...

* * *

Chakra Fen sat in front of a broken window within a ruined apartment complex with a sniper rifle rested between her knees as she reached over and grab a nearby bottle of beer that sat on the floor. She was a woman of Asian ancestry with black hair that was pulled back into a bun and held in place by a pair of hair sticks and dressed in a pair of blue jeans, black boots, and a gray spaghetti-strap tank top that showed off a large oriental-style dragon tattooed on her back along with a series of Chinese characters her upper left back and shoulder. She downed the remaining liquid before tossing the now empty bottle over her shoulder and waited for the sound of it shattering against the wooden floor before grabbing the sniper rifle and propped it against the windowsill. She peered through the scope and stared into the abandoned streets filled with nothing but burnt out cars and burning rubble from the bombing earlier that day. Ever since the coup various Resistance Cells had formed in response and she belonged to the Knights of Freedom headed by Health Minister Nuura Joss, Agriculture Minister Turfa Dei, and Education Minister Brock Valevoss. She heard screaming coming from the streets below and swung her sniper rifle around to locate the source when she discovered two figures racing through the streets with a helmet-less Cerberus Trooper chasing after them. Charka swivelled her rifle and pulled the trigger and watched as the Trooper's head snapped back as the bullet tore through his skull and his body toppled over. The two fleeing figures escaped into the night and Charka grabbed another beer and pried the lid off on the underside of the windowsill and took a swig. The Knights of Freedom simply didn't have the numbers or resources necessary to successfully overthrow the Vanu so instead she spent her time thinning out their numbers in the hopes that it would be enough. The holographic projection of the night sky flickered several time indicating to her that the damage that it had sustained from Dr. Eggman's attack was a lot worse what had initially been thought. Chakra caught movement out of corner of her eye and she immediately returned her gaze to the scope of her rifle and noticed a man stumbling about, clutching his left arm or lack of one. The man slumped down next to a car that lay on its side and she zoomed in to get a better look and noticed that the arm had been clearly ripped from the shoulder, but also noticed that there were lights pulsating through his combat uniform.

"Oh shit," she swore, realizing that it was a Ghost and tapped her earpiece, "This is Chakra Fen, to any local KoF members, can anyone hear me?"

"This is a secure channel, get off it," the voice on the other side.

"I've got a suspected Ghost on Fifth Street," she said, "He appears to be in need of immediate medical attention."

"We don't have time to waste with something like that," the voice replied, "now get off this channel."

"Disregard that order," another said coming on the comm. link whom she regonized as her lover Valevoss, "Commander Williams you will provide assistance and bring that Ghost to headquarters."

"Minister Valevoss I must object," Commander Williams said, "We can't waste our resources on helping every person that needs it. Especially a fucking Ghost."

"You will bring the Ghost to me," Valevoss said, "am I clear?"

"...yes sir," Williams said reluctantly.

* * *

Location: KoF Headquarters

Several minutes...

* * *

Dr. Amanda Haley brushed a lock of blond hair from her face as she looked around the makeshift triage established in the headquarters for the Knights of Freedom within the now abandoned subway line that ran underneath Central City. She had been off duty when the bombing of Central had occurred and had been rescued by those who would become members of the Knights of Freedom. In return for saving her life she offered her assistance by providing medical care to the rebels. Most of the tunnels had collapsed during the bombing campaign, which fortunately prevented the Vanu from launching anything but a frontal attack, but sooner or later the attack would come and they had to be ready. The headquarters was quiet with most of the rebels out conducting raid and attacks, but that was soon shattered when several Resistance Fighters burst into the triage carrying a wounded, unconscious man.

"What do we have!" Dr. Haley demanded as she jumped into action.

"Severe trauma!" one of the rebels yelled out, "massive blood loss, due to severing of left arm."

"His arm wasn't severed," Haley stated studying the man, "it was ripped off, do you have the arm?"

"No. He was found without it," another rebel replied.

"Prep the O.R. We need to operate now!"

The rebel soldiers transferred the man's body onto a stretcher and wheeled his body into an adjacent tunnel that had been converted into an operating theatre.

"We have to be cauterize that wound before we lose him," Haley said, "What the hell happened to you friend?"

"Ta...tar...in..." the man coughed.

"Shit! He's awake," another rebel said.

"Get me a shot of Morphine!" Dr. Haley ordered, "Sir? Can you tell me your name?"

"Atticus...Atticus Carpenter," he choked.

"Listen to me Atticus, we're gonna do our best to save you."

"Pretty sad when even the doctor isn't sure," he said causing a look of confusion to appear on the doctor's face, "...I'm a ghost. We came to assassinate Tatarin...but we failed...he's inhuman," he said as he began to drift out of consciousness.

"Hang in there, Atticus," Haley said as she gave him a shot of Morphine, "We'll save you."

* * *

Location: Central City

Three hours earlier...

* * *

Atticus Carpenter sat in the hold of an Quantradyne APOD-33 dropship with two other Ghost that made up Shadow Team. Their mission; assassinate the traitorous Vasillj Tatarin and put an end to the Vanu Sovereignty's coup, but that was easier said then done. They hadn't exactly been officially sanction by the Supreme Commander or by the Ghostmaster General to undertake such a mission, in fact they had essentially gone AWOL and would find themselves in hot water when they got back to headquarters. What limited intelligence they had been able to gather indicated that Tatarin had sequestered himself within the Grand Hotel in the Downtown Core after Dorian Baxter went missing and now controlled of the interm government. It was their sworn duty as soldiers of the Terran Republic to infiltrate his tower and put a bullet in the head of that traitor, but it wouldn't be easy. The main building was under complete lockdown with at least a hundred of brain-panned Cerberus Troopers and Cyborgs between them and their target it would be suicide to march through the front doors, especially with the tower giving off EMP pulses every thirty seconds that rendered their personal cloaking devices completely useless. It would have been easier to deploy themselves on the rooftop and make their way down, but with the threat of their dropship being blown out of the sky Atticus had instead made the decision to have themselves deployed on the ground floor of a second tower that currently under construction. They would be forced to fight their way to the sky-bridge near the top and cross over to the tower, but Tatarin most likely anticipated and direct assault, which meant that they would have the element of surprise on their side.

"Shadow Team! Prepare for deployment in three minutes," the pilot reported.

"Maintain radio silence," Atticus said to his companions as they nodded in conformation.

"Two minutes till drop off," the pilot reported.

The three operatives double checked their weapons and climbed out of their seats, taking positions in front of the bay doors waiting for the doors to open.

"One minute."

Atticus held his breath and waited for the inevitable as the doors slid open and all three Ghosts repelled down to the ground below. They couldn't risk the Dropship being detected so once they were safely on the ground the ship immediately retreated from the scene and they went to work. The trio of Ghosts entered the half-constructed building and for the first several floors they encountered no resistance whatsoever until they reached the tenth floor when they suddenly found themselves engaged in a firefight with several Cerberus Troopers. Atticus quickly ducked behind cover and mowed down a trooper with a burst from his assault rifle, the bullets tearing through the flimsy armour like it was nothing. There were explosive barrels littering the construction site and a single wayward shot caused one of them to detonate, taking out three other troopers.

"That was easy," one of the Ghosts yelled over the gunfire.

"Don't get cocky!" Atticus shouted back as he took down another trooper.

The gun battle was over in less then five minutes as the Ghost trio made a beeline for a nearby elevator that would hopefully take them to the rooftop.

"Doesn't seem to be many guards around," another Ghost said as he accessed the elevator controls.

"Let's not get overconfident. He could be waiting for us," Atticus warned as the doors slid open.

After several tense moments riding the elevator the doors finally slid opened and the three Ghost Assassins stepped out into the cold night air. The wind was howling and threatened to blow them off the skyway as they slowly rounded a corner where they found their path to Tatarin crawling with Vanu goons. They were all looking for a fight and the three Ghost were happy to oblige as they open fire on the closest ones, taking them by surprise. The firefight that ensued was fierce and it forced them to duck behind the construction equipment that littered the skyway to avoid being hit by not only the gunfire but a series of rockets that were being launched at them from several perches. Atticus raced forward and flung a nearby barrel with telekinesis at the nearest shooter who immediately shot at the object, causing the volatile contents within to suddenly explode, sending the man flying of the walkway and tumbling to the ground below. He immediately threw himself to the ground as a rocket sailed overhead and quickly crawled behind cover before the shooters could get him in their sights again. Trying to read the mind of someone who had undergone neural resocialization was practically impossible, their minds were too fuzzy, making it difficult to get an idea of what they intended.

"Samuelson! Take out those rockets!" Atticus ordered as he seized an approaching trooper with telekinesis and hurled him off the bridge.

"My pleasure," Samuelson projected as a sniper round rang out.

Atticus watched as the body of one of the Rocket Troopers tumbled out of its perch while another shot rang out before it even had a chance to hit the ground. He leapt over his cover and raced forward, joined by Drake as they tried to get closer to their target, all the while having to deal with the remaining troopers. Atticus was exhausted from constantly having to draw on his psionic energy for much of the mission, but they were almost finished with their mission and then they could rest, but until then he needed to keep fighting as he swung his arm and sent several trooper hurtling off the skyway. Three more shots rang out in quick succession and three more body tumbled to the ground as he and Drake finished off the remaining troopers with their several well place rounds. They reached an exterior elevator and were soon joined by Samuelson as they entered the cab and headed straight up to Tatarin's office.

* * *

Location: Tatarin's office

Three minutes later...

* * *

Tatarin was dressed in a pair of black pants and matching boots with a grey dress shirt, and a red necktie as he sat in a comfy office chair and while staring out through large office window at the night sky. He was well aware that he had a trio of Ghosts were on the premises, but he unlike many other wasn't afraid of them, rather he welcomed their presence. He took a long, refreshing drag of his cigarette as the sound of approaching footsteps reached his ears. Tatarin swivelled in his chair around so that he was sitting in front of a finely crafted sunwood desk as a pair set of double door was in front of him were suddenly kicked open and a trio of Ghosts entered the room, weapons pointed directly at him.

"Vasillj Tatarin!" Atticus declared, "for the good of the Terran Republic you will die."

"Is that so?" Tatarin asked, a smile spreading across his face as he reached for the underside of the desk.

"Don't try it!" the Ghost armed with a sniper rifle warned upon noticing that the traitorous general was up to something.

"I don't know what you mean?" he said as he hurled the desk at the intruders.

The desk would've crushed Atticus had he not ducked, but instead it only crashed through the door and into the hallway beyond. Tatarin was suddenly in front of Samuelson and drawing on powers similar to telekinesis to lift him in the air and slammed his fist into his body with enough force to cause all of his internal organs to rupture at once, killing him instantly. Tatrain drove his knee into Atticus' stomach sending him flying through the office door and into the hallway beyond as he turned his attention to the remaining Ghost. He fired a spray from his SMG's at point blank range hoping to take him out, but the biotic barrier that the general erected caused the bullets to fall to the ground harmlessly. Tatarin lashed out and hurled an orb of dark matter that collided with the Ghost and tossed him through the air like a ragdoll and slamming him into the office's side window. The glass cracked then shattered from the impact sending the unfortunate Drake hurtling down to the deserted streets below. Tatarin spun on his heel and was about enter into the hallway when Atticus suddenly burst through the doors and tackled him, driving him backwards and slamming him into the back window of the office as they crashed through it. The two of them flipped and tumbled through the air towards the ground that was growing ever closer as Tatarin drew upon his biotic abilities to manipulate the gravity around them, slowing their fall. Tatarin managed to move his body so that it was Atticus who was the one who would impact with the ground and planted his feet into his chest and pushed off, sending him crashing through a glass ceiling of the hotel's restaurant. The Ghost slammed into a wooden table, splitting it in half as Tatarin landed gracefully and without a sound, a smile present on his face as he took off running and disappearing through a side door. Atticus rolled onto his stomach and pulled himself to his feet, his ribs crying out with each move he made as he searched around for his missing assault rifle, but found that he had lost it in the fall. Climbing painfully to his feet Atticus pulled his flak pistol from his hip holster and took off running as best as he could as a pair of Cerberus Troopers entered the room. A single shot punched through the visor of one of the troopers sending him crashing to the ground as Atticus hurled the remaining solider across the room and to the bar, shattering several expensive bottles of scotch. He switched his weapon into his left hand and pulled out a balisong, flipping it open as he moved through the hallway and as he rounded the corner he came face to face with Tatarin. Atticus raised his weapon and fire off a round that completely missed its target as the general slapped it away. The Ghost stabbed with the balisong but Tatarin seized a hold of the man's arm and swung him into a wall, Atticus' ribs screaming in protest from the impact. The General planted his foot against the wall and with a single, jerking motion tore his arm clean off. Atticus screamed in agony as he collapsed to his knees, clutching his shoulder as Tatarin toss the severed limb away and pulled out a gun, pressing it against the Ghost's forehead.

"Leave. Go back to Umoja and tell your handlers that I won't die so easily," Tatarin snarled as he turned and departed.

* * *

Location: KoF Headquarters

Early morning...

* * *

Atticus awoke to pure, blinding pain that nearly caused him to black out, but through force of will he managed to remain conscious as he opened his eyes and glanced around the makeshift infirmary.

"Oh good, you've awakened," Dr. Haley said as she appeared in his field of vision, "how do you feel?"

"Like I was hit by a semi," he complained.

"I did the best I could," Dr. Haley stated, "If I had the proper equipment I'd be able to fit you with a prosthetic."

"It can wait," Atticus said as he sat up, "There are others in worse shape then I am."

"The Commander will be wishing to speak with you, now that you're up," she stated.

"I don't doubt it," he replied, "Lead the way."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Activation

Location: Tyrador

1:04am...

* * *

The dark silhouette that was Avernus Station stood out amongst the black of night as General Horace Warfield's dropship landed on the rain-swept helipad and deposited himself and Ghost Agent Samir Duran. Situated within the province of Tyrador it was the headquarters of Project: Shadow Blade and training facility for the next generation of Ghosts: The Spectres. Duran, a brown skinned man scanned the area with his eyes for any sign that security had been compromised before taking a step forward. His attire was unusual for a Ghost, consisting of a pair of baggy dark blue pants with matching boots, a white shirt with rolled up sleeves with a blue shoulder pad that was located on only his left shoulder, and a white beret. He was armed with a C-10 Canister Rifle, an outdated weapon that had been standard issue for Ghost Operatives several years ago and refused to retire the weapon, claiming that it was a classic.

"What is this place?" he asked.

"This is Avernus Station," Warfield explained, "the training facility for the Spectres."

"Spectres? What the hell are those?" Duran questioned.

"Next Generation Ghosts culled from the Ghost Program and given enhancements. The Supreme Commander wants us to activate them and use them to retake the facilities that the Vanu have seized," Warfield explained, as he led Samir to the facility entrance.

Duran never thought that it was possible for something to be both sterile and filthy at the same time, but imagine his surprise when he stopped in the facility's dark, cold atrium. A petite woman seated at a small desk, working away on a computer when Warfield approached.

"General, what a surprise," she said shocked, "what can I do for you?"

"Get me Dr. Shimada," Warfield said, "I don't care what he's doing."

"Yes sir," she replied as she picked up the phone.

"I've been here only five minutes and already I hate his place," the Ghost commented.

"It wasn't designed with rainbows and ponies in mind," Warfield stated, "It a military research facility."

One of the side doors opened and a bespectacled man of Asian ancestry dressed in a gray uniform with a black turtleneck underneath stepped out into the atrium.

"Samir Duran this is Doctor Shinji Shimada, leading expert in Psionics and Director of Avernus Station," he introduced.

"General Warfield, to what do I owe the honours?" he asked, adjusting his spectacles.

"Under orders of Supreme Commander Gerald DuGalle Project: Shadow Blade is to be brought online immediately," the General stated.

"Now! But there's not enough subjects," Shinji stated.

"You said we'd have roughly thirty Spectres ready for deployment," Warfield said, "How many do you have ready to go."

"We've only got sixteen subjects ready to be activated. Tosh included," he stated.

"This is unacceptable, Shinji."

"I'm still waiting on a shipment of Jorium," he replied in his defence.

"Then activate the ones you have," Duran interrupted, "Cause in case you haven't noticed the Government has been overthrown by the Vanu Sovereignty. We need all the help we can get."

"Is that why communications have be offline?" Dr. Shimada asked.

"They've taken ODIN offline," Warfield stated, "We're completely in the dark."

Shimada swallowed hard with nervousness appearing on his face despite his best efforts to remain calm and collected given the situation before nodded reluctantly, leading the two visitors further into the facility. Moving through the maze-like hallways they eventually stopped in front of the windows of what appeared to be a gymnasium with a single occupant who was busy training. He was semi-muscular dark brown skinned man with a scruffy face, dressed in a blue and grey training fatigues with dreadlocks whipping about as he raced through the obstacle course that had been set-up for him. What really drew Duran's attention was the unnaturally glowing white eyes that he had as opposed to a natural eye colour. Stopping for a moment to catch his breath he turned to the window were they had gathered and Dr. Shimada motioned for him to step outside. The door slid open and the man emerged with as towel draped across his broad shoulders, with sweat running down his face.

"General Warfield," he said with a Jamaican accent.

"Gabriel Tosh, we have an emergency," Warfield stated.

"...and you came all the way here because you need us Spectres."

"The Vanu Sovereignty has staged a coup against the government. They've take control of Central City and have either seized control of or destroyed our military facilities."

"...and you want my brothers and sisters to help get them back for you."

"That is the objective, yes."

"Then were are active?" he questioned.

"Yes."

"Good...I'm sick of starin' at these walls."

"I have a specific task for you, Tosh," Warfield said.

"Oh?"

"Before ODIN went offline he detected an unusual amount of activity coming from Nephor."

"The Ghost Town?"

"Yes. We weren't able to investigate because of the coup. I want to know what's going on."

"You'd rather I investigate some ghost town then to assassinate Tatarin?" Tosh asked.

"We never said it was Tatarin," Duran stated.

"You're a terrible liar. You're thinking it," he stated with a smug look on his face.

"Leonid Celsus has reported that a Ghost named Atticus Carpenter went rogue this evening along with two other Ghosts, we assume that they've gone to do just that," Warfield explained.

"...very well. I'm in, under one condition," Tosh said.

"And that is...?" asked Warfield.

"I'll let you know when there's something I want," Tosh replied smugly as he turned and departed.

"I don't like him...he's an entirely new level of creepy," Duran stated as he shuddered.

"The procedure affects everyone differently," Warfield admitted, "Most Spectres like to collect trinkets, believing that they enhance their abilities."

* * *

Location: Egg Carrier

That same time...

* * *

The Egg Carrier was currently situated at the bottom of the sea in order to avoid detection and Eggman was curious at what was going on since the Terrans had given up on hunting him. From what little information that he had managed to gather indicated that some sort of coup had occurred and the government was indisposed. What was worse was the fact that Augustgrad's infrastructure had suffered a massive blow in the widespread attacks, which did him little good in rebuilding his empire if he couldn't use the country's existing infrastructure to do so. Egg-shaped dictator was drifting off to sleep as he sat in his command chair on the bridge of the Egg Carrier, his eyes only half open and he was just beginning to drift off when an annoying beeping filled the air. He was shocked awake and opening his eyes as a video hologram appeared in front of him, displaying the image of a faceless Dark Egg Legionnaire appeared.

"Yes, what is it?" Eggman demanded with annoyance.

"Excavation Team Alpha reporting in," the Echidna stated, "We've recovered one of the Deep Power Stones in Drood Henge as was ordered."

"Excellent work," Eggman said, "continue with the excavation...I want that other stone."

Eggman settled back in his chair allowing a smile spread across his ugly face. Annexing the Terran Republic into the holdings of the Eggman Empire may no longer be an option for him, but once he had the Deep Power Stones nothing would matter.

* * *

Location: Mar Sara

Morning, two days later...

* * *

Sonic shielded his eyes from the rays of the sun as he sat in the back the pickup truck that they had stolen and had been covered it in camo netting. It was hot, but the wind blowing through his blue fur was exactly what he needed to cool off. He was surprised that despite that the Terran Republic was in utter turmoil the countryside seemed peaceful enough, as if life just went on. The trip was a long and boring, and entirely necessary since the quickest way to Los Andares would take them straight through the Ruins of Graschek, which had been transformed into Detention Center for Mobians waiting for extradition. Tails was sleeping peacefully with his head resting against Sonic's shoulder as they travelled down the mostly abandoned road towards their destination. Most of the Freedom Fighters were asleep given the fact that there was absolutely nothing to do until they got to Los Andares. Out of boredom Sonic removed his PDA and switched it on causing the image of Tatiana Kempinski; the anchorwoman of Mar Sara's branch of UNN appeared on the screen. All the other television channels in the province had been shut down by the Vanu Sovereignty leaving only VAFN (Vanu Armed Forces News) on the air. Miss. Kempinski was now serving as a mouthpiece for the Vanu Sovereignty, but it appeared that she was only doing it to save her own life. Sonic shut off the device, not wanting to listen to the garbage she was spewing and looked over to see Amy staring at him.

"They'll only be broadcasting propaganda," she said.

"I know," he admitted, "I was hoping that it had been shut down."

"We're not that lucky," Amy commented, "not as of late."

Mighty suddenly let out a yawn and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and glanced at the two hedgehogs.

"How long was I out for?" he asked.

"Hour and a half," Sonic stated, "but I'm not surprised, it looked like you needed the rest."

"Didn't sleep well at all last night," Mighty explained with another yawn.

"None of us did," Tails murmured half-awake.

"You're still with us, Big Guy?"

They passed a population sign with the name Los Andares written on it along with the population number of 19,278. Mira steered the truck through the town and took notice of large group of people and gathered around a large holo board that had been erected in the center of town, spewing propaganda that made VAFN look tame by comparison. The mercenary pulled the vehicle to a stop between two homes at the far end of town and climbed out with Kath following suit.

"Hey! Why'd we stop?" Sonic demanded.

"We're here," Mira replied as she climbed out of the vehicle.

As the Mobians exited the back of the vehicle they were soon joined by a second truck that carried the Prime Minister and the others.

"So now what?" Amy asked.

"The extraction point is just down by the coast," Nova stated, leading the way.

Their journey took them down to a wide cove with a small stretch of coastline that consisted of a wooden dock and a tiny shack. Nova removed a beacon from her utility belt and switched it on before allowing it to fall to the ground.

"All we can do is wait for transport," she stated.

"How long with that take?" Sonic asked.

"Oh not that long," Lio said pointing to a Hercules dropship that was heading towards them.

The aircraft touched down on the constantly shifting sands as the bay doors opened revealing a young woman with blonde hair that was set in a pair of pigtails and dress in a hostile enviroment suit.

"Anyone ordered a taxi?" she asked.

"Delta! It's good to see you," Nova said.

"Next stop Umoja," Delta said.

"Count me out," Carmichael stated, "My place is here, I'm not abandoning my people."

"We're not one to simply turn our back on a fight," Sonic said, looking at the others.

"I'm staying too," Leon declared.

"No...you're not," Carmichael stated.

"But why?"

"You're seven-years-old and we're in the midst of a war. That's reason enough."

As the argument continued Sonic happened to glance over his shoulder and discovered several Mobains coming down to the coastline with what looked like Terran among their numbers.

"We're not alone," he shouted.

Nova and her fellow Ghosts swung their weapons around to face the newcomers who immediately stopped in their track when ordered by Nova.

"Identify yourselves," Kath ordered, her finger ready on the trigger of her rifle.

He was a older man, around Carmichael's age with a thick, black goatee and dressed in black pants and a red hoodie.

"Castor Mezzo,"Mira murmured.

"The Mob boss?" Kath questioned.

"Ah...I see my reputation precedes me," he commented.

"What the hell is the leader of the Mezzo Crime Family doing here?" Molly asked.

"My men ambushed a transport that was taking these poor Mobians to the Graschek Detention Center," he explained, "I heard rumours that a transport would be arriving to help evacuate the Prime Minister to Umoja."

"I'm not going anywhere," Carmichael said.

"Then it makes sense that these Mobians make use of this opportunity instead," Mezzo stated.

"I agree," the Prime Minister conceded, "They should be allowed to escape from this place. Just like my daughter and step-son."

"Hey! I'm not the one arguing with you," Molly stated, "I don't like the idea of just leaving you behind, but I understand that it's something you've got to do."

"Well I'm stayin' with papa," Leon said defiantly as he crossed his arms.

"Oh for cryin' out loud!" Molly shouted as she pinched a nerve on the back of her brother's neck.

The boy's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he's body began to sway before falling face first into the sand.

"For god sakes, Mol, what were you thinking?" Carmichael cried out in horror.

"Hey! At least he can't complain anymore," she said defensively, "Now he's my problem, not yours."

Carmichael shock his head as he watch Molly and Delta place Leon's unconscious form into the belly of the dropship as the freed Mobians climbed aboard.

"You guys don't have to stay here," Sonic said turning to his friends.

"Sugah-hog we're in this together," Bunnie stated.

"Dad...for god's sakes be careful," Molly said hugging her father, "Miranda will be pissed if anything happens to you."

"I'll be careful," he replied, "look after your brother."

"I will," she said as she climbed aboard.

"I'll head back to HQ," Kath said to Lio.

"Alright. Delta, you're up," Lio said.

"Okie doke," she said gahtering her gear.

"What's your angle, Mezzo," Carmichael questioned as the dropship dusted off, "You're certainly not the type of person to do this out of the kindness of your heart."

"Let's just say that this coup has been bad for business," the crime lord replied, "the status quo must be restored. Now c'mon...before that Vanu discover us."

"Where are we going?" Mighty asked.

"My estate in Chau Sara."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Plotting

Location: Murasian Jungle

Late afternoon, the next day...

* * *

A heavy rain was falling from the darkened sky as two Vanu-loyal marines decked out in CMC-400 Powered Combat Suits that had been sprayed purple stood guard outside the Soleanna's forest entrance. The city had been seized by members of the Vanu Sovereignty just as quickly as Central City had fallen and marshal law had been instituted, while the Royal Family had been confined to their island. A pair of missile turrets had been constructed at each of the city entrances, acting as a deterrent for those attempting to enter the city. Out of sheer boredom one of the guards opened his mouth to let out a yawn and was suddenly silenced by a single bullet fired from the adjacent trees. As the Marine toppled over backwards with a loud crash the other yelped in surprise as another bullet rang out, striking him in his face and sent him toppling over forward. The shooter allowed a small smile to stretch across her thin lips as she slipped the weapon across her back and slid down from her perch on the lip of the canyon. It was a steep decent down to the canyon floor, her long scarlet hair whipping about along with her black trench coat in the rushing wind as she landed on the grass. Her green eyes scanned the area and she took notice of the of the firebase that had been sent up in the center of the canyon before turning her eyes skyward. The silhouette of a single Behemoth-class battlecruiser hung in the skies above Soleanna like a vulture waiting for carrion. Despite being replaced by the newer and more advanced Hercules and Minotaur-classes it could still easily waste the entire city and that was a threat that needed to be neutralized, but she needed help in order to do that. She rushed towards the city gates, unafraid of being detected now that she had naturalized the two guards and slipped inside. Soleanna was completely deserted, not a single person save the odd Cerberus Trooper patrolling the streets, which forced her to activate her personal cloaking device to avoid being spotted. The fact that all of the city shops closed gave her the creeps as she moved from alleyway to alleyway towards the city's Opera House. It appeared that the Vanu had positioned their brain-panned Cerberus Troopers throughout the city in order to ensure complete control rather then divert their run of the mill soldiers for guard duty. She bypassed them easily as she slipped through the front doors of the Opera House, de-cloaking as she stepped inside. With rifle in hand she swung it back and forth, scanning the area for any threats as she approached the ticket booth. Somebody suddenly leapt out of the shadows, armed with a BOSUN FN92 sniper rifle and aimed it in her direction. He was a young man dressed in a white T-shirt with black pants and boots with light brown hair that was hidden by a boonie hat with a moustache and a soul patch, while a pair of mirror-shades that concealed his eyes.

"What's the password?" he demanded.

"Cerulean," she replied, "Ark Bennet?"

"Not since I left behind my life as a member of the Old Families," he stated, "It's Ryk Kydd now. You Sarah Kerrigan?"

"That's right," she confirmed, "Pretty bullsy wielding that in close quarters."

"In my hands it's just as deadly close range as it is long range," he commented.

"What do you have for me?" Kerrigan asked.

"The local marshal's an old friend of mine from our days in the 321st Colonial Rangers Battalion," Ryk began, handing her a datachip, "I would suggest seeking him out and possibly recruiting him to capture the Hyperion. The other is Vin Iggins; an Ex-Master Corporal who was wounded in an accident years ago. You can usually find him getting drunk at the Sour Moon, but I doubt that he'd be willing to help us."

"Why's that?"

"He's been disillusioned with the military ever since his accident. He refused to even acknowledge me when I approached him," Ryk explained.

"I can be very persuasive, what about you?"

"I take it that you'll be speaking with Iggins first," Ryk commented.

"Might as well. What about you?" Kerrigan asked.

"I'll go see Raynor then," he replied, "Might want to stash you weapon though. Things as tense enough without someone wondering around with a gun."

"You gotta point," she admitted, "Watch your back."

"I could tell you the same thing," Ryk commented as he slipped back into the shadows, "But you wouldn't be a Ghost if you weren't trained for that sort of thing now would you."

* * *

Location: The Sour Moon

Several minutes later...

* * *

After stashing her rifle away Kerrigan was quick to make it to the Sour Moon and was hit with a wave of despair courtesy of the few patrons who were present. She moved through the bar looking for the individual that matched Vin Iggins' data file, before locating him at the bar, nursing a bottle of Umojan Beer. He was a middle-aged man with gray hair, a full beard, brown eyes, and dressed in a black long-sleeved shirt that was left open and exposed the white undershirt that was underneath, black gloves, gray pants, and black boots. She approached him and was about to speak when a drunken customer strolled up to the bar and attempted to hit on her.

"Hey sweets," he slurred, "you, me, and my motel room."

"No thank you," she replied angrily.

"That wasn't a request ," he said grabbing her by the waist.

Kerrigan could've slammed the drunk against a nearby wall with her telekinesis for his indiscretion, but it was Iggins who intervened. He seized the bottle he had been drinking from by the neck and swung his arm back, the bottle connecting with his face and shattered into pieces, showering the floor with beer and glass as he tumbled backwards from the blow. The Ex-Master Corporal tossed the broken remains of the bottle over his shoulder and was quick to order a replacement from the bartender.

"I could've handled that," Kerrigan stated.

"I'm sure you could've melted his brain as well, Miss Ghost," he replied.

"So you know what I am."

"And I'm aware of why you're here. I'm not interested."

"Mister Iggins your country needs you," Kerrigan said.

"Yeah?...and where was my country when I lost my arm in that munitions accident?" he demanded as he yanked his sleeve up his arm.

His right arm had been replaced by a cybernetic prosthesis made of highly polished Neosteel, without a single jagged edge to it. Most individuals when in need of cybernetic replacement limbs usually had special features installed, often illegally, which made them larger and heavier, but Iggins' looked like it was just your run of the mill replacement.

"I had to pay for this myself, out of my own pockets, because the military refused to," he said angrily, "Now I have to live in a rented motel room because I had to sell pracically everything I owned in order to pay for it. Then my wife has the gull to leave me, but then again Desdemona was a pathological adulteress."

"I know you are with the military for abandoning you. I know you are less then pleased about your wife's unfaithfulness, but right now the fate of the future of the Terran Republic is at risk."

"I'm not interested...leave," he said.

"But!"

"LEAVE!"

Kerrigan decided not to press the issue and immediately departed from the bar, not wanting to anger the man any further then he already was. She immediately headed in the direction of the Soleanna Police Department, weary of running into any Cerberus Troopers and hope that Ryk was having better luck then she had.

* * *

Location: Soleanna PD

Several minutes later...

* * *

Jim Raynor poured himself two glasses of Scotty Bolger's Old No. 8 from his personal collection before turning and handing one over to his visitor.

"Can't say that I'm all that keen on associating myself with the military again, Kydd. Not since that garbage with Vanderspool when we were members of the Heaven's Devils," he comment.

"I know all about your days as an outlaw after you and Findlay when AWOL," Ryk said as he took a sip, "how your last big heist went awry and Findlay ended up captured by the authorities."

"I tried to make an honest life for myself in Mar Sara after that failed heist at the Covington Bank. I met my wife and had a son, but the law soon caught up to me at the Marlowe Trading Post and I was jailed," Raynor explained as he slipped back into his chair.

"So how did an outlaw such as yourself wind up becoming a marshal?" Ryk asked.

"I was given a choice: Become marshal of the Soleanna Colony or rot in a prison cell in New Folsom and never see my family again. It should be obvious what I chose," he replied, "But we're not here to discuss the choices that I've made."

"Fleet Admiral Gaskaville is planning on launching a military operation to retake the capital, but when need ships in order to do so," Ryk explained.

"I guessing your planning that that battlecrusier that floating above the city is your target," the marshal commented.

"We need to seize control of the Hyperion, but we need all the help we can get to achieve that, it needs to be part of Gaskaville's ramshackle fleet. One Ghost and one Sniper can't do it alone."

"And you want us to do it?" Raynor questioned.

"No. We need you as part of the strike team. My associate is trying to recruit and Ex-Master Corporal, though I have my doubts that she'll be successful."

Raynor didn't want to put the lives of the men and women under his command at risk, but then again the innocent civilians of the city were in danger so long as that battlecruiser remained in enemy hands.

"Alright...but it's up to them, I won't force them into something that they don't want to be involved with," Raynor stated.

"I understand."

Just then Kerrigan entered the room with a defeated look on her face.

"Didn't work?" Ryk asked.

"I'll try again later, I haven't give up on him...yet," she stated.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Out of Storage

Location: Eggdome, New Megaopolis

That same time...

* * *

Robotnik's orders to locate the Chaos Emeralds for his Energy Amplifier were easier said then done now that the emeralds were stranded in the Zone of Silence. Ever since A.D.A.M. had attempted to acquire all the Chaos Emeralds from across the universe to Mobius, Super Shadow and Turbo Tails were forced to expel them into the Zone of Silence since that amount of power shouldn't be allowed to exist in one place. That made things far more difficult for him since he hadn't figured out a way to retrieve them from the zone. Snively had hacked into the computer network of New Mobotroplis and injected Spyware into the system in the hopes that had one of the emeralds or knew of a way to get them. So far the Spyware had gone unnoticed by the city's security, but he wasn't ready to relax just yet, not until he was out of their systems. Snively accessed one of the files on the system that was dated months ago and pulled up security footage of the vault within Castle Acorn and discovered one of the Chaos Emeralds sitting inside a glass case, but suddenly Sonic and a Mongoose he recognized as Ash appeared and smashed the display case, taking the emerald. The security footage immediately switched over to the detention center where the hedgehog and mongoose handed the emerald over to the imprisoned Mammoth Mogul who took it for himself and freed his fellow captives before vanishing after a brief chat with Sonic. There was no sound available, but Snively was able to put the pieces together. Mogul had done something that forced Sonic to hand over the Chaos Emerald to him, thus facilitating his escape and where he would go on to take ownership of the abandoned Casino Night Zone, but that made things all the more difficult. He dreaded having to tell his uncle that the Chaos Emerald was in the hands of Mammoth Mogul; an immortal being who had had thousands of years to prefect his control over Chaos Energy. His Spyware program continued gathering data in the New Mobotroplis Network and pulled up another file for him to view, this one dated weeks ago. It was of the Princess and her brother; the King entering the vault with a suitcase and watched as Elias began removing Chaos Emeralds, placing them within cases formed by the omni-present AI NICOLE.

"Oh this is rich," Snively said aloud, "This make my job much easier."

Snively disconnected himself from the New Mobotroplis Network and immediately activated the long ranger communication system. It took several seconds to establish a connection with the Egg Carrier all the way in the Efrika continent, but soon he was greeted by his uncle's annoyed face.

"You had better have located those Chaos Emeralds I need," Eggman stated

"Mammoth Mogul claimed the emerald that the Freedom Fighters had months ago, but it appears that they somehow reacquired it along with the rest of the emeralds several weeks ago," Snively began.

"Excellent," Eggman said.

"How would you like to proceed?" he asked.

"Oh...I have something special in mind," Eggman replied, "Head over to Ironlock Prison."

"Ironlock Prison? But that's all the way in the Dark Swamp."

"You're stating to obvious, Snively. I have a secret facility set up there that had teleporter access via Robotroplis," he stated.

"Which the United Federation nuked," the toadie commented.

"STOP INTERRUPTING!"

"Yes sir."

"As I was saying...I never got the chance to recalibrate the teleporter on Ironlock Prison's side because too much was going on," Robotnik explained.

"So instead I get wade through a swamp filled with Dragodons."

"Don't be such a whiner," Eggman said, "I'll be along shortly."

"You're coming?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

"You can't access the facility without proper clearance," Robotnik stated, "Now get a move on."

* * *

Location: The Dark Swamp

Nearly one hour later...

* * *

Snively sat in his Egg Mobile, his eyes darting about at every single noise before focusing his attention on the entrance of Ironlock Prison. The massive castle-like structure had been built in the year 3134 and had fallen into serious disrepairs following it's abandonment approximately one hundred years ago. A deep gorge was all that separated the prison and a rotted wooden drawbridge was the only way to get across. Snively grew sick of the scenery and immediately tapped a button on the control console in front of him and waited several seconds. A large beam of light struck the ground behind him and Eggman slowly pulled up beside him.

"Couldn't you have just teleported into the building instead of dragging me along?" Snively asked.

"Please, and risk teleporting into a wall?" Ivo said as he floated towards the drawbridge, "Alright let's get this over with."

"How goes the mission in Murasia, Uncle?"

"It would appear that the Terran Republic has suffered a coup, which has destroyed any chances of making it part of the Eggman Empire," Robotnik explained.

"So what are you still doing in Murasia then?" Snively questioned.

"I want to see how things play out," he replied as they passed through the massive archway.

They floated into a large courtyard that was just as dilapidated like the rest of the prison and immediately headed into the main building that was in even worse shape. A massive sinkhole had opened up in the center of the cell block and descended further then Snively could see and watched as his uncle descended into the hole as he followed after. The sinkhole was actually a water cavern that extended far from the prison and took Eggman and Snively several minutes before the path forked in two separated directions. Taking the left tunnel they continued on for several more minutes before reaching a large blast door that had the dictator's face emblazoned on its surface. Robotnik was quick to transmit the appropriate code that caused the massive door to slid away allowing them entry to the chamber beyond. It was a brightly chamber, a command center to be precise with numerous doors that led off into different directions. The was a large glass chamber in the corner of the room that was all too familiar to Snively: the Roboticizer.

"It a modified version," Eggman said as if he knew what his nephew was thinking, "doubt it works since the Mobians are all mysteriously immune to the effects."

"What is this place?" Snively asked.

"A fallout shelter and storage facility for those part of the Cybernik Program," Eggman explained.

"Cyberniks?"

"It was an attempt to turn Mobians into war machines rather then Robian slave workers. The Roboticizer was modified in order to convert the organic material into Megatal alloy, but out of the one hundred test subjects I had there was only two who survive the process."

"What didn't I know about this?"

"Oh Snively, there are some many more things that I've kept from you," Eggman said smugly as he approached a nearby console.

Tapping a few buttons caused a section of wall to slide away revealing a pair of glass chambers containing two Robians...no Cyberniks inside. One had the number 15 written on the top of the chamber followed by the name Vermin and the creature inside appeared to be a rat with deadly lethal looking claws on its hands and feet and a long whip-like tail that ended in an transjector spike. The second one had the number 22 written on the chamber along with the name Shortfuse and appeared to be a squirrel with a pair of wrist mounted blasters and a V on the forehead that extended outward. Robotnik finally got the teleporter recalibrated so that it was directly linked to New Megaopolis as a pair of Guard Robos teleported in.

"Disconnect those chambers and take them back to New Megaopolis," Eggman ordered.

"Why not just unleash them now and save us the trouble later?" Snively questioned.

"If we were to attack now they'd just launch a counter offensive against New Megaopolis and I'm not willing to show my entire hand unless I know for certain that they're on their way back to Northamer," the dictator replied, "I want those annoying Freedom Fighters to see their home in flames."

Snively had no choice but to agree with what his uncle assessment and floated to the teleporter pad and vanished from sight. Eggman quickly altered the destination for the teleporter and returned to his Egg Mobile before teleporting back to the Egg Carrier.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Uprising

Location: Soleanna

Evening, the next day...

* * *

Vin Iggins sat in the darkness of his motel room as tropical storm Ida roar outside, pounding the city mercilessly. He stared at the half drunk bottle of Umojan Beer that he had clutched in one hand before setting it down on the nightstand. He had become troubled following his encounter with the Ghost and cursed himself for letting her get inside his head. Iggins watched as the light from a pair of headlights suddenly pierced through his closed curtains, forcing him to stand. No one in their right mind would be going out in the middle of hurricane force winds, so it struck his as odd as he approached the window. There was an APC sitting in the middle of the parking lot with more and more Cerberus Troopers emerging from the vehicle. Iggins watched as the men began moving from motel room to motel room in search of something. He was certain that the Vanu were targeting those that they deemed potential threats and he was unfortunately one of them.

"Shit," he cursed.

He immediately moved back towards the bed and reached for the steamer trunks that he had stashed under the bed and opened them up. He had stolen it from the military believing that it was compensation for him losing his arm and the military doing nothing for him, but it was going to take time to get it put together, time he didn't have.

_"Mr. Iggins, you're in danger," _a voice echoed into his head.

"No shit," he said, "That you little Ghost?"

_"Yes and it's Lieutenant Kerrigan."_

"Did you come to try and convince me to assist you?"

_"That was the original intention, you need to get out of there."_

"I can take care of myself, but is it possible for you to distract them while I finish up here?"

_"What are you doing?"_

"You're the telepath, you tell me."

_"I don't read peoples thoughts without their consent."_

"Just try to buy me sometime and I'll help you take the Hyperion."

_"As you wish."_

The rain was falling in sheets as Kerrigan stepped out of the alleyway and took aim with her C-20A and felled the closest Cerberus Trooper with three shots into his back. The others immediately turned to face her and opened fire, forcing her to duck back into the alleyway in order to avoid a hail of gunfire. Kerrigan blindly aimed her weapon and fired off a series of rounds, telekinetically guiding each one to its target. She heard each body fall to the ground with a loud thud before she leaned out to see more Cerberus Troopers rushing towards her. She raised he weapon to fend them off when the motel suite that Iggins was staying in suddenly erupted into a fireball that lit up the night. The windows were blown out from the force of the explosion and shattered against the ground as the front door crashing into one of the troopers. He was dead before he even had a chance to hit the ground and Kerrigan watched as a large silhouette appeared within the flames who immediately opened fire on the remaining Cerberus Troopers with its C-14 Impaler, cutting them down. Kerrigan watched the figure decked out in a blue CMC combat suit that was reflecting the flames off its surface before the visor lifted up and revealed the face of Vin Iggins.

"You do realize it's a crime to steal government property," Kerrigan stated, crossing her arms as she stepped forward.

"Seemed only fair considering I never received compensation for the loss of my arm," Iggins commented dryly, "might a well put it to good use."

Kerrigan nodded and reached for her comm. link that was strapped to her wrist and was immediately radioed Ryk.

"Kydd here," he stated.

"Master Corporal Iggins is onboard," she reported, "What's the situation on your end?"

"We've broken into the armoury on the other side of town and Raynor's boys are currently arming themselves," Kydd replied, "Rendezvous with us at the gates leading to Kingdom Valley and we'll get this fight started."

"Acknowledged."

* * *

Location: Kingdom Valley

Fifteen minutes later...

* * *

The storm had not let up, in fact it had gotten worse which worked in their favour as it helped of conceal their approach. Lightning danced across the night sky as Kerrigan hid within the shadows with Iggins' imposing form standing behind her.

"What's taking so long?" Iggins asked.

"Give it time, Mr. Iggins," Kerrigan replied.

More lightning lit up the night sky followed a slight vibration of the ground as several men dressed in CMC-Powered Combat Armour along with several lightly armoured Infantrymen. One of the armoured soldiers was decked out in black CMC armour with a skeleton-like pattern paint upon its surface and a skull painted on the gold visor. The soldier's visor lifted up and revealed the weathered face of Marshal James Raynor.

"Ready to go?" she asked.

"Those not willing to help us highjack the Hyperion are going to assist the resistance cell in creating a distraction for us," Raynor reported.

"Kydd and I will scout ahead and make sure the path is clear," Kerrigan stated, "If you and your men head into the forest we might just avoid a firefight with the Vanu."

"Sounds like a plan," Raynor commented, " Berkley's on standby waiting for the signal."

Kerrigan turn to Ryk and the two immediately sprinted off to accomplish their goal as he turned his attention over to Matt.

"Let's move."

Raynor trudged through the rain and mud with the rest of his volunteer soldiers and met up with Kerrigan and Kydd at the mouth of the canyon, before sprinting into the adjacent forest.

"Give your man the signal," Kerrigan ordered.

Raynor nodded and glanced over to Matt who immediately conveyed the order to Berkley back in Soleanna. As if on cue they heard several explosions in the direction of Soleanna and watched as the Vanu Outpost in Kingdom Valley immediately went on alert. Soldiers suited up and armed themselves as they piled into the back of several Medivac Dropship and took off in an effort to put down the uprising, leaving the base undefended.

* * *

Location: The Hyperion

Twenty minutes later...

* * *

Captain Pollock Rimes was by far an ugly man. Bald and scarred, he was missing most of his left ear, a bent nose from being previously broken, crooked teeth and an indentation on the left side of his skull. He stood on the bridge of the Hyperion looking out through the window as explosions lit up the Coastal City of Soleanna. The rebels were doing a fine job of holding their own against the forces of the Vanu Sovereignty, but their little uprising would be put down soon enough.

"Open a channel to General Tatarin," he ordered.

The glowing holographic grumpy image of General Vasillj Tatarin appeared over the map display in the center of the bridge.

"Captain Rimes, you'd best have a good reason as to why you are disturbing me," he warned.

"Sir, we've got an outbreak of fighting throughout Soleanna," Pollock reported, "How would you like us to proceed?"

"Burn the entire city to the ground," Tatarin ordered, "If they insist on being disobedient then there's little reason for that colony to remain."

"Understood," Rimes acknowledged, as the hologram dispersed, "You heard him Mr. Maelsteen, move us away from the city and out into the harbour in the New City District."

"Yes sir," the helmsman replied.

"And power-up all ATS laser batteries. If these rebels want to retake this city, then we'll make sure that all that's left is a smoking crater," he added.

The entire ship rumbled as it's Behemoth Reactor pushed the Neosteel fortress began reposition itself when a female member of the bridge crew stood up and shouted a report.

"Vessel inbound...Hercules-class Dropship," she reported.

"Begin hailing," Rimes order.

"This is the Hyperion to Hercules-class Dropship, please identified yourselves," she ordered yet received no reply, "Vessel is ignoring our hails."

"Then shoot it down," he replied with cold indifference.

"But sir, it one of ours."

"I don't care. If they can't be bothered to respond to our hails then they are the enemy."

Collision alarms began blearing inside of the bridge as the approaching vessel suddenly began accelerating.

"Vessel is on a collision course," Maelsteen reported, "impact within forty-five seconds."

"OPEN FIRE GODDAMN IT!" Rimes shouted.

"Vessel is too close, ATA laser batteries are unable to target-lock."

"ALL HANDS, BRACE FOR IMPACT!" he ordered.

The entire ship vibrated as the vessel impacted, but it wasn't against the side of the Battlecruiser, but rather it had crashed into the interior of the ship itself.

"Sit rep," Rimes ordered.

"Impact has occurred within Docking Bay 4," the female officer reported, "We've got reports of isolated fires on decks three, five, and eight as well as Docking Bay four."

"Dispatch fire-suppression teams to the affected areas," Rimes ordered.

"Sir, do you think there was anyone aboard that dropship?" Maelsteen asked.

"No one would be stupid enough to be aboard a dropship that they intended to crash," Rimes replied.

"Shall we continue on our current path?" the female officer questioned.

"Yes, we'll be targeting the New City District first," Captain Rimes stated.

* * *

Location: Docking Bay 4

That same time...

* * *

"Nice landing, Matt," Raynor commented, climbing out of the wreckage.

"Sorry sir," he apologized, "had to get us aboard before they shot us down."

"Well we're all in one piece, thanks to your fancy flying," Kydd commented.

"Suppose it comes with growing up flying ship for a merchant family," Matt stated.

"This ship is on the move, best we get moving," Kerrigan suggested.

"What do you think they're going to do?" Raynor asked.

"I wouldn't put it past the Vanu to burn Soleanna to the ground, they did turn Graschek into a crater," she stated.

"All the more reason to usurp control of this ship," Iggins said.

All the soldiers gathered at a set of blast doors that separated the docking bay from the rest of the ship and immediately exited into the cramped corridor beyond. The corridor could only fit three across, which made it difficult for the armoured Marines to maneuver about and left themselves too exposed for Raynor's liking.

"Any chance that the original crew is still alive?" he asked Kerrigan.

"Possibly...maybe we should split up and have half go on ahead to the bridge," Kerrigan suggested.

"I'll lead the search for any surviving crew members," Kydd stated.

"Sounds like a plan," Raynor said.

Splitting their forces in half Iggins, Raynor, Horner, and Kerrigan and their team continued towards the bridge. It wasn't long before klaxon started blaring and shortly thereafter they they encountered resistance in the form of the Vanu Sovereignty's Cerberus Troopers. The group immediately scattered as gunfire filled the hallway, seeking safety in the alcoves and doorways that lined the corridor. Raynor and Iggins were tucked behind the door that led out into a junction where the Cerberus Troopers had situated themselves and he motioned for the Ex-Master Corporal to toss a flash grenade. Iggins did as was suggested and tossed the flash grenade down the corridor, blinding the unsuspecting troopers. Raynor lowered his armour's visor and immediately stepped out into corridor, firing away with his C-14 Impaler as he charged at the enemy. One Trooper went down after several spikes embedded themselves into the Trooper's armour as Raynor entered the junction, firing his weapon at a trio of troopers as they charged in to halt their progress. Iggins barrelled down the corridor and collided with one of the Troopers, slamming the resoc into a wall and coldly executed the man by shooting him dead at point-blank range. Raynor could hear the crack of Kerrigan's canister rifle as one trooper after the other went down until the entire junction had been cleared. The group pressed forward without a word, passing through corridor after corridor until they arrived at the doors to the bridge. They had been sealed shut as part of the emergency protocols, but it only took Kerrigan a moment to override the system. The moment the doors slid open a firefight erupted as Kerrigan caught Captain Pollock Rimes' surface thoughts: _Trigger the Hyperion's self-destruct sequence._ She watched as Rimes rushed over to a nearby console and Kerrigan fired off a round from her canister rifle and struck him in the back. He stumbled forward and crashed into the computer console, allowing him to activating the self-destruct sequence.

"Shit," she swore aloud.

Activating her clocking field she rushed into the middle of combat, avoiding any fatal injuries and reached the console within two seconds. Pushing Rimes' body to the floor she took note that the self-destruct countdown had already reached the thirty second mark as she pulled free a data crystal chip from her belt and quickly inserted it into the console.

"Adjutant: Override self-destruct sequence," Kerrigan ordered.

"PROCESSING..."

"Process faster," Kerrigan said as she began thinning out the Cerberus Troopers.

The Resoc Cerberus Troopers were outmatched with the combined efforts of Raynor's men along with her own skills and soon they had managed to clear out and secure the bridge. The alarms were deactivated and the computer console let out a beep causing Kerrigan to glance over her _shoulder. The _Adjutant_ had succeeded in halting the _self-destruct sequence_ and the number displayed on the computer screen had been paused at seven. _


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Critical

Location: Eredas Estate

Early morning...

* * *

Zulon found that sleep was being an elusive beast for him given the recent state of affairs for the Terran Republic. No...the Terran Republic was dead in all but name, what remained was something barely recognizable. Mobians were being rounded up on a daily basis and interned at a 'holding center' that had been built upon ruins of Graschek, but had recently been freed by members of the Mar Saran Liberation Front. The Vanu Sovereignty may have succeeded in taking control of capitol but they faced stiff opposition in the form of the Knights of Freedom, while they controlled even less territory out in the countryside thanks in part to the MSLF. Zulon stepped into the Holo-training chamber dressed in a pair of loose fitting black pants, a black t-shirt and slip-on shoes as he walked into the center of the bright white chamber. The floor was highly reflective and Zulon could see that his hair was sticking out in practical every direction. It was because his natural hairstyle was ridicules that he resorted to a ludicrous amounts of hair gel and spray to get it the way that he wanted.

"Computer: Initiate Scrin Combat module, Urban setting - level 9," he ordered.

"WARNING: SELECTED COMBAT LEVEL EXCEEDS SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS."

"Override, Password: Zakuro."

"OVERRIDING...EXECUTING COMBAT LEVEL 9."

The entire room seemed to rotate and grow brighter as half destroyed buildings began to take shape, the ceiling became an overcast sky filled with dust and smoke as the sound of battle filled his ears. He turned his eyes skyward and watched as a Scrin Mothership drifted across the sky and immediately began running. The Scrin was one of the most destructive forces in the known galaxy, one that made the Black Arms and the Xorda look tame by comparison. Little was truly known about the Scrin other then they were motivated by the dire need to expose themselves to Tiberium in order to survive. They were even known to seed entire worlds for the sole purpose of harvesting the toxic element, while showing little regarded for other sentient life in the process. The only thing that was preventing them from spreading ruination across the galaxy was the Protoss. The Protoss saw it as their duty to protect the lesser life forms under their watch and had mustered their forces to halt the Scrin's advance. Recently however he had received reliable intelligence that suggested that the Protoss had been join in the war by the forces of the Asari Republics, the Turian Hierarchy, and the Salarian Union. Zulon stopped at an intersection and watched as an Eradicator Hexapod as it slowly moved down the street when a Corrupter suddenly burst through a nearby building. The bio-mechanical unit had the appearance of a firefly with a bulbous sack that contained a sloshing green liquid inside and immediately spewed it at him. Zulon leapt into the air, avoiding the corrosive bile and retaliated with the Kiai Cannon. The force of the impact was enough to crush the machine-insect hybrid's body, spilling its internal organs onto the pavement. He heard a screech fill the air and turned in time to collided with a Stormrider, the extra weight unbalanced the aircraft and sent them both crashing into an office building. The combat module may have only been a holographic simulation, but all of the objects were hard-light holograms meant to be as realistic as possible. The impact had sent the Stormrider two floors down from the roof, but he had continued another three floors before coming to a rest inside of a boardroom. If his body had been falling at a faster speed he probably would've ended up back out into the streets, which thankfully had not happened. Zulon pushed the burning wreckage and ceiling tiles from off his body and immediately blew out the boardroom window and launched himself out through his makeshift exit. Almost instantly he found himself under attack, this time by the searing proton beams of an Annihilator tripod, which he easily avoided. He launched a counterattack and let loose with an energy blast that collided with the tripod's main body. The entire walker lurched and wobbled unsteadily before it compensated for the sudden unbalance and continued its attack. The Saiyan dropped out of the sky to avoid the proton beams and landed on the road that ran the entire length of the city and immediately dashed forward, unleashing another chi blast that destroyed the walker's leg and sent it toppling over. A searing blast from a Devourer Tank impacted against his back and he was sent stumbling forward from the sudden loss of balance. He slowly turned around and regarded the tank with his dark eyes and unleashed a blast that reduced it to shrapnel. The air was soon filled with an even greater nascence; Buzzers, anti-infantry units that were about the size of a locust and moved in swarms. They were capable of tearing a full-grown adult to pieces in seconds, but he was a Saiyan and they were but pests. He crossed his arms and formed a barrier around himself that prevented the Buzzers from getting inside before making it explode. The Buzzers were disintegrated in the blast, but were quickly replaced by a Shard Walker that came trotting down the ruined street, firing off a stream of Tiberium crystal shards as it approached. The young Saiyan flung himself to the ground to avoid being skewered, but felt a shard graze the top of his shoulder. If the simulation had been 100% accurate he would've just been exposed to Tiberium and the best case scenario would've been his own death or becoming some sort of Tiberium mutant. The worst would've involved his body being broken down into a barely sentient mass of flesh known as a Visceroid. He fired a blast and destroyed the Shard Walker before taking to the air and inadvertently colliding with another Stormrider. Blinding pain shot throughout his body and he felt himself black out from it, awakening to find that he had wound up inside of a underground parking garage. He tried to get up, but he was fairly certain that he had just bruised his spine, not that he would've been able to move if it wasn't. Both of his legs had been shattered in the fall and in his attempt to reposition himself he felt a sharp, stabbing pain in his side, made him question if he had also broken his pelvis. He stared up through the gaping hole in the ceiling and stared at the moon as it was slowly obscured as the Scrin Mothership took up position directly above.

"Ah hell," he muttered, now understanding why the training mods had safety protocols.

He watched as the underside of the ship began to glow as it powered up its Catalyst Cannon.

"Computer...exit program," he ordered.

Everything flared white, the buildings disappearing, returning him to the plain, white training chamber. He felt himself growing dizzy and touched his side, feeling a growing wetness that saturated his clothes, he hadn't broken his pelvis, he had impaled himself on something and judging by the amount of blood flowing from the wound it had hit something.

"Computer..." he murmured weakly, "Initiate code blue alert."

That would bring Harpuia and the others running and undoubtedly he'd receive a tongue lashing for being reckless and stupid, on the bright side at least he wouldn't be conscious for it.

* * *

Location: Medical Lab

Three minutes later...

* * *

Zulon lay on a blood soaked medical table, the medical staff having cut him out of his clothes as the medical personnel desperate attempt to patch up his punctured kidney. Harpuia watched stoically from the doorway with Fefnir, Phantom, and Leviathan watching on with obvious concern.

"Why do you think the master jumped from level 4 to level 9?" Leviathan asked.

"Clearly trying to prove something," Fefnir said, cutting in.

"You know how Saiyans are," Phantom stated, "their underlying need for combat. Their legend."

"The Super Saiyan!" Leviathan questioned.

"That's a myth. There's no evidence that it ever existed," Fefnir said dismissively.

"Just because there's been no documented case of a Super Saiyan emerging doesn't mean that it doesn't exist."

"If anyone were to emerge as a Super Saiyan it would be the master," Harpuia commented.

One of the medical Reploids stepped away from the table and immediately approached the Four Guardians.

"What's his status?" Fefnir demanded.

"Two shattered legs, a bruised spine, one cracked rib, internal bleeding, punctured kidney, possible concussion, and numerous cuts and bruises," she reported, "We're prepping the Medical Chamber for him. If he were Human he'd have died by now."

"Saiyans tend to grow stronger when they recover from serious injuries," Phantom stated.

"So what?...you saying the Master cheated to get stronger?" Leviathan questioned.

"He's not the type," Harpuia said, "He'd rather gain his power through determination alone."

"If anything this was unintended consequence that works in his benefit," Phantom stated.

The medical team succeeded in patching up the young prince's wounded kidney and proceeded to transfer him into the bulky healing chamber. They attached a breathing apparatus over his mouth and nose before shutting the large door, the sound of the machine being filled with medical liquid quickly drowning all other sounds in the Medical Bay.

"How long are we looking at?" Harpuia asked.

"Due to his extensive injuries I recommend no less the thirteen hours in order to ensure his complete restoration," the nurse stated.

Harpuia immediately approached the Medical Unit and peered through the viewing window at his charge's battered form.

"You idiot," he murmured.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Siege

Location: Madubin Island

Late the next day...

* * *

A confiscated Pelecanidae Class Stealth/Assault Dropship soared through the ever darkening skies, as the sun slowly dipped below the horizon. Dorian Baxter had ordered his Tau Unit to launch an attack against Madubin Island to remove a potential threat: Zulon Eredas. He had compromised the security of the Terran Republic by leaking its existence to the Republic of Acorn and was by all accounts a traitor. He also had been humiliated by him and wanted him to be made to suffer in the most gruesome fashion possible. The cloaked dropship was packed with a covert Shadow Team; men and women who possessed a low Psi Index that made them unsuitable for recruitment into the Psi-Ops Division. Individuals like that were only fit to become Ghosts Wranglers whose duty it was to search out potential recruits for the Ghost Program, but General Tatarin had found a better use for them. The Vanu Sovereignty simply did not possess the means to train their own Ghost operatives, stealing the tech was out of the question and abducting one of the government's Ghosts was a bad idea. The dropship's Cross-Spectrum Dampeners were doing a good job of keeping them hidden, but they only had a few minutes of stealth before the cloaking field deactivated.

"Shadow Team, prepare for deployment in four minutes," the pilot reported.

The soldiers double checked their weapons and gathered at the doors, waiting for the word to be giving. The sun disappeared over the horizon and the bay door slid open, allowing the troops to deploy to the combat zone. It would've been a deadly drop to the water below, but they deployed their powered hang-gliders and glided away towards the coast. The few guards that were patrolling the coast line were unprepared for a silent aerial attack and went down within seconds for several sound-suppressed rounds from their machine pistols. Upon landing half the ground separated in order to disable a section of SAMs to allow the bulk of the forces to bypass unhindered. The other half headed up to what passed as the estate's backyard, taking out anyone who could posed a potential threat to them before arriving at what appeared to be the estate's backyard. A single individual was waiting for them, a man with spiky brown hair with the fringe being a vibrant orange and orange eyes. He wore a black bodysuit with white fingers, white earpieces, a closed orange vest that left his stomach exposed, white pants that was held up by a thick brown belt, orange and yellow shoes, and a pair of orange boxing glove-like gauntlets.

"You are not welcome here," Fefnir stated.

The soldiers immediately raised their weapons in his direction causing a smile to spread across the Reploid's lips.

"You funeral," he said throwing his right arm back, "BATTLE-MODE!"

He slammed his fist into the ground causing a tower of flame to shoot up around himself before dying away. His attire had been stripped away, replaced with one that more battle oriented that consisted of an open shirt with short sleeves, thigh guards, codpiece, and a helmet that contained a pair of horns that jutted forward on an angle. He reached backwards, grabbing the large canons called Sodom and Gomorrah that were strapped to his back and aimed one in the direction of the intruders unleashing a fiery blast. Fefnir wasn't at all surprised that the Vanu had sent an attack force to take care of them, in fact he had expected it sooner. The Master had had the foresight to assigned him to overnight guard duty, which not only worked as a first line of defence but he was load enough to act as an early warning system. If the Vanu had managed to obtain a sample of the Master's voiceprint then they undoubtedly knew where they were and the master had theorized that it was the Cyclone's IFF beacon that had been the means.

"This is Sage Harpuia to all units: hostile paramilitary forces have landed on the island. All units are to immediately assume defensive counter-measures. Security forces stationed at Túr Dúlra are to evacuated the villagers to the cave system posthaste. This is not a drill, repeat this is not a drill."

He heard several explosions in the distance and glanced in the direction of the closest in time to see a fireball lighting up the sky and immediately opened a comm. channel.

"This is Fighting Fefnir, SAM sites are under attack, expect an aerial assault to commence momentarily," he reported.

"Acknowledged," one of the combat leaders stated, "moving to intercept and secure."

* * *

Location: Eredas Estate

That same time...

* * *

The first explosion was enough to send Inari flying from his bed as he immediately raced into the hallway in just a pair of briefs. Emergency alarms were blaring throughout the house warning them that there were intruders on the premises. They were to proceed to the emergency bunker, but with his cousin still inside of the medical machine healing and if the intruders found him he was a goner. Inari raced down the hallway in the direction of the medical bay when something crashed through the ceiling. The young Saiyan took cover behind a wall and watched as several Cerberus Troopers emerged from what he now realized was a drop pod. The Vanu had taken control of one of the drop pod facilities on the mainland and were inserting their forces atmospherically. It was only a matter of time before they started sending in the heavy artillery to finish the job and he need to get his cousin before they did. He raced away from the scene, weaving through the hallways with pounding footsteps drawing ever closer until he reached the sterile medical bay. He raced over to the computer terminal and studied the keyboard before realizing that he had no idea what he was doing. The troopers were getting closer causing Inari to seek shelter underneath a gurney mere seconds before they entered the chamber. One of the soldiers approached the medical machine and peered through the porthole causing Inari to stifle a cry, but only resulted in his discovery. One of the faceless trooper seized him by the ankle and dragged him out from his hiding place.

"LEMME GO!" Inari cried out.

"What should we do with him?" the solider asked, putting the boy into a bear hug.

"Kill him," the commander replied.

One of the brain-panned Cerberus Troopers raised his weapon directly at his chest, his index finger wrapping itself around the trigger causing Inari to squeeze his eyes shut. He expected a gunshot to ring out but instead heard the sound of a body crashing to the floor, forcing him to open his eyes. The gunman lay on the floor with a kunai made of pure energy embedded into the side of his head, blood pouring from the deadly wound. He watched as Phantom emerged from one of the shadows within the room in his armour-mode and flung another kunai aimed at the trooper who was holding him hostage, freeing him. Every one of his cousin's Guardians had the same basic battle-mode, but for Phantom he had a helmet that was reminiscent of a bird with a red arrow-like crystal that went all the way to the back. He immediately turned his attention to the one closest medical machine and was about hurl another Kunai when a glow began emanating from the medical chamber's porthole. The trooper only had a fraction of a second to register what was going on before the medical machine's door was blown clean off. The door slammed into him and both were sent hurtling out into the hallway, medical fluid spilling onto the tiled floor as Zulon emerged naked from the chamber. The medical fluid dripped from his body as a golden flame-like aura burned around him before tearing the breathing mask from his face.

"Get out of my house!" he ordered the men.

Their immediate response was to turn their weapons on him causing the boy-prince to lunge at the closest one, driving his elbow into his collarbone. The man crumpled under the blow, his collarbone shattered and Zulon quickly followed it up by blasting the second closest before Phantom finished off the last one.

"Status?" he demanded, as his aura died away.

"Looks like small scale attack," Phantom replied, "All protocols have been enacted."

"Except for him," Zulon stated, pointing to his cousin.

"He was not within his sleeping quarters when the attack began," Phantom stated.

"I just wanted to make sure you were alright," Inari said.

"I'm fine now," Zulon replied, placing a hand on his cousin's head, "I need some clothes."

"Over there," Phantom said pointing to the gurney behind him.

Zulon immediately moved over to the gurney and grabbed a pair of briefs and pulled them on along with a pair of baggy powder purple pants with a white sash, a matching long-sleeved shirt with a light blue oriental style vest with gold stitching, and a pair of black slip-on shoes.

"Take Inari and get to the bunker," he ordered Phantom as he studied a nearby terminal.

"What about you?" Inari asked, watching his cousin approached the medical fridge.

"I've got to head to the lab and grab NICOLE. Sal's not safe here anymore," he answered, grabbing a bottle from within, "make sure that this is administered to her."

Phantom snatched the bottle from the air as stared at it, realizing that it contained the medical fluid used in the medical machines.

"Can you be sure that her body won't have an adverse reaction to it?" Phantom questioned.

"Already had a bio-scan done on her before I ended up taking a dip in the stuff, she's all green," he replied.

Phantom nodded and departed the Medical Bay with Inari as he left in the opposite direction. He encountered very little in the way of resistance, and those how attempted to stand in his way were easily dispatched allowing him to continued on to the Reploid Laboratory. The laboratory was filled with large machines that contained a glass canopy used in the creation and maintenance of Reploids. He hadn't been able to repair NICOLE so he had done the next best thing and transferred her AI into a customized Reploid body. The Vanu hadn't compromised the lab yet and he immediately slipped inside, sealing the door behind him. The Saiyan approached one of the chambers and began fiddling with the computer before turning his attention to the chamber itself. Floating inside the chamber was a brown Mobian Lynx who had patches of black on the ends of her ears, hands, and feet. She was dressed a single-shoulder purple wrap dress that flares out around her knees, while her long black hair had two sections that were adorned with purple and orange beads. The entire building shock from the bombs that they were now dropping on the estate as the canopy slid away and NICOLE's green eyes snapped open.

"We need to leave now," he stated.

"Where's Sally?" she asked, pushing herself out of the machine.

"Waiting for us in my emergency bunker," he explained.

NICOLE nodded and flexed her fingers, trying to get use to a body that wasn't holographic-based before follow young Saiyan to where an escape hatch was located. There was banging coming from the blast door as the intruders attempted to force their way inside, but it would take a laser drill just to get inside and they'd both be long gone by then.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21: The Haunting

Location: Madubin Island

Evening...

* * *

A drop pod screamed through the sky above Augustgrad and impacted with the soft earth of Madubin Island, far from the battle that raged near the estate, in a low lying section of the island. A single occupant emerged from the insertion craft, decked out in a heavily modified hostile environment suit that was standard uniform for members of the Ghost Program. The suit pulsed with neon-green light as the masked figure turned his sights skyward at the smoke filled sky. Despite the fact that it was late in the night it was still visible against the holographic skyline that surrounded Augustgrad. 108 seconds following his successful insertion into enemy territory the Drop Pod's self-destruct protocols kicked in, preventing the technology from falling into the wrong hands. The beeping of the comm. link that was strapped to his right arm immediately drew his attention, causing him to answer it. The holo-image of Vanu Sovereignty political leader Dorian Baxter appeared before him, a sour look present on his face.

"I really had no faith that the strike team would be able to succeed in their mission," he stated, "That's where you come in, Gestalt Zero. Kill anything that not friendly troops, is that understood?"

Gestalt Zero nodded his head and switched off his communicator, his attention fixated on the silhouette of the estate that burned in the distance. He immediately switched his HUD to its night vision mode and checked that his machine pistol was in working order before heading in the direction of the estate. Gunfire reached his ears not long after departing from the remains of his drop pod and soon came upon a set of wooden stairs that led to a higher portion of the island where a group of defenders trying to hold off the invasion force. Gestalt Zero pulled his pistol from its leg holster and fired a burst of rounds into the body of the nearest solider sending him tumbling down the stairs as the others turned to confront the individual responsible. Taking their eyes off the immediate threat was a costly mistake as they were gunned down by the remaining troopers. Gestalt Zero was confused by the lack of blood from the man he had just shot, in fact there wasn't any evidence that suggested that he had even been alive. The defenders appeared to be some kind of advance synthetic not yet seen outside of the AIs used by the fallen Terran Republic. He stepped over the body and headed up the flight of stairs where he was greeted by several of the Vanu Sovereignty's Cerberus Troopers. The area he had arrived in was flat, but cliff-like, overlooking the sea that separated the various islands of the province of Tyrador. He continued his trek towards the estate, ascending another set of stairs that took him to what appeared to be a large backyard complete with an Olympic-size swimming pool. Bodies lay strewn throughout the yard, some Terrans, others machine, but Gestalt Zero's attention was concentrated on the mission at hand. He stepped over the bodies, the sound of distant gunfire filling his ears as he stepped through the shattered remains of what had been the estate's patio door.

* * *

Location: Eredas Estate

That same time...

* * *

Another rumble shook the Eredas Estate, dislodging dust from the ceiling as Zulon and NICOLE forced their way through the cramp access corridor.

"Goddamn it, they're destroying my house," Zulon cursed.

"It would appear that's holding up rather well given the circumstances," NICOLE observed.

"That's because it's was constructed with Neosteel supports," he stated, "They can burn the whole place to the ground but the frame and my bunker will stay intact."

The house shook with another vibration as Zulon and NICOLE arrived at a security hatch at the end of the corridor and went about accessing the hidden keypad. NICOLE couldn't help but feel a sense of uneasiness as the building once again shook from another cluster bomb impact. Zulon eventually got the security hatch opened and quickly slipped inside, sliding down a short ramp that deposited them within the security bunker. It was a medium sized room with a series of bunk-beds that lining both walls with a pantry that was stocked with a week's worth of food at the far end of the room, with a small bathroom to the left of it. To the right was a freight elevator that would take them to the surface in the event that the bunker's security was compromised. It was stuffy inside, not to the point that it was unbearable, but enough to force Inari to ditch his t-shirt, though he had tied one of the bed sheets around his neck like a cape. Sly was seated on the same bed as Inari and was surprisingly happy and bubbly despite the situation. Sally was seated on another bed, further away to allow her some privacy as Sarada went about administering the medical fluid to her chest wound.

"Everyone alright?" he asked.

"Safe and accounted for," Sarada replied.

Everyone was indeed safely within the security bunker including Adam and his brother Alec who had made it an occasional habit of theirs to sleep over rather then remaining with the rest of the Vaalbarans back at Túr Dúlra. Both Tanuki boys were sound asleep despite the chaos of their current predicament. Adria was there as well, too engrossed in checking the security feeds of the ongoing attacks to acknowledge his presence.

"Sally," NICOLE said, immediately rushing to the Princess' side.

"NICOLE! How!" she asked.

"I've transferred her AI into a Reploid body that was customized to resemble her holographic form," Zulon explained, "figured that given the situation it wouldn't hurt to have an extra pair of hands around."

"But how are you suppose to interact with New Mobotropolis' systems?" Sally questioned.

"She's Wi-Fi enabled," he answered, "she'll be able to wirelessly access the computer systems of New Mobotropolis so long as she remains within the city. Wanted to install some weapon systems to help her defend herself but she stubbornly refused."

"I adhore violence," NICOLE responded, arms crossed.

"Yeah yeah. Well if nothing else I've had a barrier-field generator installed within you," the Saiyan Prince commented, crossing over to a weapon locker.

"What are we going to do?" Sheik questioned, his arms crossed.

"I'm gonna fight my way to the Transerver Chamber and get Sally and NICOLE out of here," he replied, removing a assault rifle.

"And where are we suppose to go?" the princess asked, pulling her vest on.

"Sonic and the others are just beyond the Mar Saran boarder in neighbouring Chau Sara. They along with the Prime Minister hooked up with the Mezzo Crime Family a couple of days ago," Zulon replied.

"They took shelter with the mafia? Why would they do that?" NICOLE questioned.

"A civil war is bad for their business," Sarada replied, "They probably think that by throwing their lot in with Sonic and the others means a quicker return to the status quo."

"She's right. Mezzo wouldn't stick out his neck if it didn't benefit him in some way," Zulon stated.

"I think the whole country is going up in flames certainly qualifies," Bajiru commented.

"Did you change your hair?" Sally asked, approaching the young Saiyan.

"This is my natural hair-style," he admitted, "the amount of gel and hair spray I had to use to get it the way I want really isn't worth the hassle."

"So...we're just gonna fight our way to this Transerver Chamber you spoke of?" NICOLE questioned.

"That's right. I'll set the coordinates to teleport you to Chau Sara so you can link up with Sonic and the others."

"Take this then," Sarada said, tossing him a sheathed katana.

He unsheathed the weapon; a curved, slender, single-edged blade that glistened silver from the florescent lighting. It had a bronze rectangular tsuba and hilt, the later being wrapped in black cloth that ended in a pair of black leather straps that dangled about.

"Ah...Nénuphar," he murmured, turning to Sarada, "I really haven't been using you too much, have I?"

"Gotta problem," Adria stated, "looks like one of the intruders trashed the Transerver Chamber."

"WHAT!" Zulon cried out.

"Looks like a Ghost," Adria explained.

"Can't be a Ghost, Tatarin doesn't have the clearance to deploy Ghost operatives," Sheik commented, "not that any would serve him."

"Well he or she is using Ghost Tech," the Reploid stated, "and it's not like anyone can walk into a store and buy that type of equipment."

"It's about as easy to get a hold of as a Psi-screen," Zulon murmured, "There are nukes that are easier to acquire."

"I'm frightened that you would even consider purchasing a nuclear weapon," NICOLE commented.

"I wasn't trying to buy a warhead," Zulon snapped, "I was buying a Psi-screen. Looks like it'll be getting some use after all."

"What exactly is a Psi-screen?" Sally questioned.

"It's a device used to prevent telepaths from reading people's minds," Adria explained, "If worn by a telepath it cancels out their ability to read minds, allowing the Ghosts to concentrate on their training."

He immediately approached a nearby cabinet and deactivated the security protocols with a scan of his handprint. It was filled with all sorts of automatic weapons along with numerous thermal clips, but removed a Scouter with a neon-blue lens from inside. He affixed the device over his left eye and slung his sword across his back before approaching a section of wall, pushing against one of the panels, causing it to slid away.

"Our way out," Zulon said, revealing an elevator on the other side.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Flight

Location: Madubin Island

Three minutes later...

* * *

The elevator emerged somewhere within the courtyard located somewhere at the front of the estate where the sound of the burning building seemed to drown out the sound of battle. Sally found herself breaking out into a sweat from the searing heat of the blaze, but could do little but deal with the discomfort.

"Stick close," Zulon said as he immediately took off.

The Vanu had been commencing their attack for the past hour and it didn't appear as if would concluded anytime soon as the trio raced along the cobblestone pathways of the garden. The sound of battle became clear as day the further they got from the burning estate, prompting them to avoid the fighting. Dead Reploids were strewn about the area, slain by the attacking Cerberus Troopers as they attempted to defend the island. Zulon consulted his scouter, searching for any nearby unfriendlies, but came up negative. His gut feeling however told him otherwise and was confirmed when one of the Vanu's cyborg units suddenly lunged out of the bushes. Zulon immediately dropped the rifle from his left hand and reached for the katana strapped to his back, sheering the arm cannon in half lengthwise, before rotating his body around and severed its legs from its body. The cyborg collapsed to the ground in a heap, but still it attempted to fulfill its programming until Zulon unleashed a Chi blasted that decimated the mechanized monstrosity.

"A see the Vanu are sending in Project: ReGenesis," Sally commented bitterly.

"What? The Processed? Yeah not surprised," Zulon stated, sheathing his weapon.

"Is that what they're being called now?" NICOLE questioned.

"It's what they've always been called...at least by the Vanu," Zulon replied, picking up the discarded assault rifle, "guess it's kinda fitting since they're post-human at this point."

"How many do you think Tatarin has at his disposal?" Sally asked.

"Depends on how long he's been operating, if he's been doing this for years then he could have an army."

"On top of the one he already has," NICOLE said.

"Yeah," Zulon muttered, "C'mon, let's not stand out in the open."

The group continued to weave their way through the courtyard, passing a tree that was fully engulfed in flames, burning embers raining down upon the cobblestones. A fireball erupted in the distance, lighting up the night sky as they continued to push forward, straight into a waiting A.R.E.S. The mechanized assault robot rotated in their direction and immediately fired on their position, forcing them to take cover behind a marble statue as it was blown to pieces under the assault.

"Looks like Tatarin means business," NICOLE shouted over the roar of automatic gunfire.

"I think it might actually be Doran," Zulon stated.

"Wait? Doran...Doran Baxter the Vanu political leader?" Sally asked.

"Yeah, Sonic and I did kinda kidnap him after you went missing...that and the fact I have photos of him cross-dressing probably didn't help to put me in his good books."

"Wonderful. How do we stop that thing?" the Princess asked.

Zulon shifted the rifle to his right hand allowing him to charge a ball of Chi in his free hand before blindly throwing it from behind cover. The ball homed in on the warbot's location and detonated, raining flaming pieced of metal across the area.

"If there are any Cerberus Troopers nearby then they'll have been alerted at this point," Zulon said, peering out from behind cover, "Let's keep moving before they or that Ghost find us."

Sally couldn't argue with that assessment and immediately followed with NICOLE in tow as they entered the estate's garden and slipped into what had once been a hedge-maze. A psychic scream pierced the night sending Sally collapsing to the ground, the sensation of having a spike driven through her skull was enough to blind her to the world around her.

"Sally!" NICOLE cried out, rushing to her aid.

The Ghost was clearly hunting them and it was only through sheer force of will that Zulon was he able to activate the Psi-screen that was built into his Scouter. Their stalker let out another psychic scream, one that was full of agony as the Psi-screen took effect. It took a moment for Zulon to regain his senses, but before long he was back to his feet.

"What the hell was that!" Sally demanded.

"That is the sensation of having your mind telepathically assaulted by a Republic Ghost," Zulon said, still trying to shake off the waves of nausea.

"How long will that Psi-screen of yours last?" NICOLE asked, "and will it protect all of us?"

"As long as I keep it activated we'll be fine," he replied, "But its best that we keep moving. I'd rather not have to go toe to toe with a Ghost is I don't have to."

Sally nodded as NICOLE helped her to her feet, following Zulon as he led them through the hedge-maze. It wasn't before the trio encountered a squadron of at least twelve Cerberus Troopers alerted by their battle with the A.R.E.S. Warbot. Zulon unloaded the rifle at the closest trooper, sending him crashing to the as the others opened fire on them. With nothing to the duck behind NICOLE activated the barrier-field generator that had been installed within her, enveloping them within a shimmering dome-like energy field. The bullets ricocheted off the Kinetic Barrier, but under such concentrated gunfire it wouldn't be long before it failed. Zulon ejected the spent Thermal Clip from his rifle and inserted a fresh one into the weapon before resuming firing on the attackers. The Kinetic Barrier had been reduced to 40% and there were still too many Cerberus Troopers that needed to be dispatch before it shorted-out. Something dropped out of the sky above with a pair of Sonic Blades slicing through the air as one-by-one the Cerberus Troopers were slain.

"Nice timing, Harpuia," Zulon said.

"You've got a straight shot to the Transerver Chamber," he stated, "Keep moving."

Harpuia immediately took to the air once more, disappearing into the night situation as the group continued forward, through the burnt foliage until exiting into the main garden. As they ran past a statue on their way to the backup Transerver Chamber the head was suddenly blow clean off as Zulon turned to face the shooter. Sally and NICOLE ducked behind a nearby statue and watched as Zulon aimed his weapon at the Ghost. Armed with only a pistol the Ghost immediately pulled the trigger, clipping the Scouter and blowing the device off his face, pieces scattering across the ground. The Ghost quickly cloaked as Zulon threw himself behind the same statue that Sally and NICOLE were using as cover.

"Well we're screwed," he commented, "my Scouter was the only thing that could detect cloaked Ghosts and we're now susceptible to telepathic assault."

As if on cue the Ghost emitted another physic-scream this time directed at Zulon, driving a scream from his lungs. His finger slipped on the trigger and sent a concussive shot flying uncontrollably through the air before colliding with the ground. The Ghost by was caught by surprise in the resulting explosion, his body briefly being visible as the flames washed over. Zulon recovered and unloaded his weapon into the Ghost's torso before fire another explosive shot that sent his body hurled into a nearby fountain. He stood there for several seconds waiting for any sign that the Ghost was going to continue its telepathic assault, but when nothing occurred he motioned for his two companions to keep moving.

"Go through the woods until you reach a bunker," he ordered, "I'll be along shortly."

"What are you going to do?" Sally questioned.

"Take care of our unwanted guest," he replied.

As Sally and NICOLE took off into the woods Zulon began moving towards the fountain, his rifle at the ready for the slightest hint of movement. The Ghost suddenly burst from the pool of water at the base of the fountain, parts of his hostile environment suit had been fused to his body in the explosion. The explosion had also torn the mask from his face, exposing a bald head with white eyes, and no visible mouth. It may have looked Human, it may even have the abilities of a Terran Ghost, but whatever it was it was a poorly made fabrication. The 'Ghost' unleashed a telekinetic attack against him, throwing him across the garden and into one of the statues. Zulon was fairly certain he had just bruised his spine from the impact, but fought through the pain as he fired off a series of Chi blasts. The attacker wrapped himself in a field of psionic energy that harmlessly absorbed the blasts and forcing Zulon to change tactics. He immediately tore Nénuphar from its sheath and charged. The 'Ghost' unleashed a telekinetic blast that hit Zulon like a wall, but he pressed forward against the maelstrom of psionic energy. The attacking telepath let out another psychic scream, driving white-hot pain directly into Zulon's brain, blood seeping from his nose, ears, and eyes. It was nothing short of a miracle that he hadn't managed to black out, though it was anyone's guess what kind of effect it was having on his brain. He was fairly certain that the Telepath could've popped his brain like a grape at any time, the fact that he hadn't when he was completely unprotected only furthered his suspicion that it wasn't a genuine Ghost. The Saiyan pressed forward, Nénuphar in hand as he took a swing at his foe as the Ghost pulled free a combat knife. He charged the knife blade with psi-energy and smashed it against the sword, shattering it into two pieces that fell to the ground. Zulon quickly switched the broken sword into his left hand and swung, the blade biting into the telepath's ribs. He pulled a pistol free from the holster strapped to the Ghost's hip and raised it to the Ghost's chest, putting six rounds into his torso before he finally collapsed. Zulon put a final round into his head just to be on the safe side before move to retrieve his fallen assault rifle. He turned to find Phantom standing over the Ghost's deceased body, the broken portion of Nénuphar held loosely in his fingers.

"Coulda used you a few minutes ago," he commented.

"I was preoccupied," Phantom stated.

"Well whatever," Zulon muttered, "Can you make sure the girls are alright?"

"Of course," he replied, handing over the broken blade.

"And get Leviathan down here, I want his body on ice...no pun intended," he ordered as he watched Phantom meld away into the shadows.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Fly Away

Location: Madubin Island

Early morning...

* * *

Sally hated the idea of leaving Zulon to fend for himself, but he of all people could handled whatever was thrown at him as she and NICOLE raced through the forest. Despite the darkness of the forest their path was clearly marked as they ran along the worn, dirt path before reaching the bunker. It was actually built into a large mound with a set of blast doors that blocked their way inside.

"We can't remain out in the open," Sally stated.

"I could try to hack the console," NICOLE said, "but I don't know how long it'll take."

"I'll keep watch then," Sally said as NICOLE got to work.

Despite its distance from the battle raging about the woods seemed even less safe as Sally kept her eyes open for any sign that they weren't alone. They needed to reunite with Sonic and the others and come up with a plan to prevent Tatarin from enacting his own. Sally felt Goosebumps spread across her the flesh and turned around to see someone de-cloak from atop the mound and pulled a katana from its back. The Princess yelped and leapt out of the way just as the attacker dropped to the ground, slashing the spot where she had been standing mere seconds before. NICOLE whirled around and raised a defensive shield around herself as the assassin took a swing at her, burying its blade halfway through the shield. The assassin which resembled a man was dressed in a formfitting suit of black and white armour with a helmet that completely enclosed his head with four slits that gave the appearance of foru pairs of eyes. He swung his free hand in Sally's direction, his palm burning with energy when a pistol appeared by his head as Phantom emerged from the shadows. The assassin let go of his sword and took a swing at Phantom, causing the pistol to go off before engaging in a brief fist fight. Sally quickly got out of the way, behind the safety of NICOLE's barrier. The assassin punched Phantom in the face, tossing his body over his shoulder, but the Reploid simply rolled to his feet and fired two rounds from his pistol. The shots hit nothing but empty air, forcing him to scan the area for any signs of the assassin before he de-cloaked nearby, katana in hand. Phantom fired off a series of rounds at the attacker as he charged at him, narrowly sidestepping a vertical slash from his blade. Phantom drove his knee into the assassin's chest and delivered a round house to his head before bashing him across the head. The attacker tumbled away but almost immediately rolled back to his feet, retrieving his fallen sword. Phantom cocked the weapon as the assassin charged at him firing two rounds as he followed suit. The armoured opponent fired a blast from his palm forcing Phantom to rotate his body in order to avoid being hit. As the assassin attempted to drive his blade through Phantom's chest a shotgun blast rang out striking him in the back. The armoured assassin was sent stumbling forward, whirling around to face the newcomer only to receive a shotgun blast to the chest, sending him to ground. Zulon emerged from the foliage with shotgun in hand and marched up the assassin who was trying to claw his way across the ground and emptied the weapon into him.

"By Aurora, are you alright?" Sally asked, noticing the blood.

"Better then that Ghost," he replied, strolling past.

He approached the control panel for the blast doors and went about gaining access to the interior while Phantom stood guard.

"Since when do you use guns?" Zulon asked Phantom.

"Since the situation called for it," he replied, "Stealth was no longer an option."

The machinery groaned to life as the blast door slowly slid away allowing them entry and shelter from the battle raging across the island. The bunker was surprisingly cavernous with electronic equipment scattered about, while a large platform was situated directly in the center.

"Get on," Zulon ordered to Sally and NICOLE.

The two complied with the order and climbed atop the platform while Zulon walked over to a nearby computer console, while Phantom manned another.

* * *

**TRANSERVER ONLINE...**

**ACCESSING NETWORK...COMPLETE...**

**SCANNING TRANSERVER GRID...**

**-SCANNING MAR SARA BEACONS...-ERROR DETECTED- **

**_UNABLE TO ****ESTABLISHED ****UPLINK**** WITH CENTRAL CITY BEACON...**

**_UNABLE TO ****ESTABLISHED ****UPLINK**** WITH GRASCHEK BEACON...**

**_****UPLINK ESTABLISHED WITH BORAL ****BEACON...**

**_UPLINK ESTABLISHED WITH LOS ANDREAS**** BEACON...**

**_UPLINK ESTABLISHED WITH ANTHEM ****BEACON...**

**-SCANNING CHAU SARA BEACONS...****UPLINK ESTABLISHED****...**

**-SCANNING DIAMOND HILLS BEACONS...****UPLINK ESTABLISHED****...**

**-SCANNING ASH'ARAK BEACONS...****UPLINK ESTABLISHED****...**

**-SCANNING RIO DEL SANTOS BEACONS...****UPLINK ESTABLISHED****...**

**-SCANNING UMOJA BEACONS...****UPLINK ESTABLISHED****...**

**-SCANNING TORSONIS BEACONS...****UPLINK ESTABLISHED****...**

**-SCANNING HALCYON BEACONS...****UPLINK ESTABLISHED****...**

**-SCANNING TYRADOR BEACONS...****UPLINK ESTABLISHED****...**

**PLEASE ENTER COORDINATES OR DESTINATION...**

**-MEZZO ESTATE, CHAU SARA-**

**DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED?: N/Y**

* * *

"You may feel some slight discomfort," Zulon warned, directing his attention at Sally, "your physical form will be digitized and converted into data to allow for the teleport."

"Will I be in any danger?" Sally asked.

"No. There are safety measures in place," Phantom stated.

"It's basically the same as Tails' Particle-To-Light Organizer and Transporter Device," Zulon replied, "but you'll be transported to a different location rather then cyberspace. I'll get you as close to Mezzo's estate as I can.

Zulon stabbed at the Y key with his index finger causing a large ring rose up from the floor, while the platform began to pulsate with a white light, alarms began blaring throughout the bunker.

"Coordinates locked. Transferring in 3...2..."

"I'll be along as soon as I can," Zulon said.

"...1..."

Sally and NICOLE were teleported away in a flash of white light as the Transerver began to power down, the ring descending to the floor. The bunker door exploded inward forcing Zulon to swing his body around and battered the door into an adjacent wall with his left arm. An A.R.E.S. was on the other side and it immediately fired upon them with its 120 mm cannon, tearing holes into the wall at the very back of the bunker. Phantom was forced to duck behind one of the terminals to avoid being cut down but Zulon remained right where he was, the bullets completely missing him.

"That's it! I'm gonna turn you into something useful, like a toaster or a washing machine!" he yelled, launching himself at the Warbot.

* * *

Location: Chau Sara

That same time...

* * *

The province of Chau Sara had seen surprisingly little development in the seven hundred years since Augustgrad's founding. The woodlands that stretched across the provinces of Mar Sara and Chau Sara provided the only attraction as a convoy moved along the deserted coastal road. They were bound for the Graschek Detention Center where their Mobian cargo would be processed by Colonel Orlan and his mercenaries. Fighting had broken out all over Augustgrad between forces loyal to the Terran Republic and the Vanu Sovereignty, and it was a miracle that they had made it through Quarte Bras unscathed. The ACP leading the convoy continued along the road when an IED exploded beneath it, tossing it through the air. The truck behind the APC slammed on the breaks to avoid hitting the wreckage as armoured soldiers emerged from the two remaining APCs ready for a firefight. A gust of wind suddenly rushed past, snatching the weapons from their grasp. Sonic raced to the edge of the coastal highway and flung the guns over the side and into the water below. Armed men and women, a mixture of local militia, resistance fighters, and Mezzo's own people emerged from the surrounding woods with Delta Emblock leading the charge.

"Get out of the vehicle now!" Delta ordered, aiming her weapon through the driver-side window of the closest truck.

He immediately grabbed a gun off the dashboard and aim it at her forcing Delta to grab him by the wrist and smashed it repeatedly against the door. The gun fell from his hand and she pulled him from the vehicle through the window, throwing him to the ground. The rest of the rebel forces immediately moved to prevent the Vanu soldiers from resisting.

"Trucks secured," one of the men reported.

"Let's get them opened," Delta said.

"Was using an Improvised Explosive Device really the way to go?" Sonic asked, appearing behind her.

"We required the element of surprise to get the drop on the enemy," she replied

"What! You don't think that I can do stealth?" Sonic asked, pretending to be offended.

"It's not your strong suit," Delta said, "Now, are you just gonna stand around or are you going to help?"

"Oh! Um...right," the hedgehog said racing off to assist the others.

Bunnie and Antoine were already at one of the trucks, freeing those locked inside as a flatbed truck pulled up.

"Don' worry sugah, we'll get ya'll ta safety," Bunnie said to the frightened Mobians.

"Oui, nous allons vous apprendre à Umoja," Antoine added.

"We'll have to travel to the Marlowe Trading Post to get them out of Mar Sara," Tails stated, "you sure we can trust the people there?"

"Mutt would make a terrible smuggler if he didn't know how to keep his mouth shut," one of the men stated, "of course he'll do anything for credits."

"I certainly hope that we're the ones paying more," Tails muttered.

"If we're not we'll soon find out."

Sonic watched as his fellow Mobians boarded a waiting flatbed truck, but knew that it was a losing battle. So long as the detention center in Graschek remained operational and as long as the Vanu remained in control plenty more would be more bound for it.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Reunion

Location: Mezzo Estate

Early morning...

* * *

The blinding, white light subsided and Sally immediately felt a wave of nausea rush over her, sending her to her knees. NICOLE immediately moved to assist her to her feet as the spinning finally subsided allowing her to see that they had been teleported into a heavily wooded area. The forest stretched across both the provinces of Mar Sara and Chau Sara, supplying Sunwood for those willing to shell out thousands of dollars for furniture made of the stuff. Sally glanced around the area in an attempt to get her bearings and spotted a large estate that was built atop a large hill, surrounded by trees.

"That must be Mezzo's Estate," NICOLE said, stating the obvious.

"We better start walking then," Sally commented as she led the way.

The woods were eerily quiet with only the sound of the crickets to accompany them as they made the long trek up towards the Mezzo Estate.

"I know he can handle himself, but I still feel like we shouldn't have left him behind," Sally said after several minutes of silence.

"If we had remained behind we would've surely been captured and killed," NICOLE stated.

"We were just supposed to convince the Terrans to ally against the Eggman Empire...now look at things; the government's been disposed, and the Vanu used by blood to create a virus to use against us only for it to be stolen by these Illuminati People. Then there's Tatarin's ultimate plan, what the hell is it?"

"I suppose things could've gone better," NICOLE admitted.

Silence hung in between the two of them as they continued along the dirt path, growing closer to the estate when Sally suddenly felt that she was being watched. Several gunmen emerged from the surrounding woods, a verity of weapons aimed directly that them.

"Stop where you are," a voice warned.

"I am Sally Alicia Acorn; Princess of the Republic of Acorn," she said, introducing herself.

"You'll need more then just words," the man stated.

"I can vouch for her," a voice called out, as Mighty raced down the dirt path, with Ray gliding behind him.

The gunmen immediately lowered their weapons as Mighty approached, some returning to their posts while others chose to remain right where they were.

"Mighty," Sally said.

"Ray saw a flash of light and we came to investigate," Mighty stated, "and here you are."

"Where are the other?" she asked.

"Out raiding a prisoner transport," Ray replied.

"The Vanu are transporting Mobian prisoners to a prison camp that's located in what's left of Graschek," Mighty explained, leading them to the mansion.

"What about the Prime Minister?" NICOLE questioned.

"Safe and unharmed," Mighty responded, "he chose to remain here while Leon and Molly escaped to Umoja."

They reached a mansion that greatly resembled the Prime Minister's residence in terms of size alone and stepped inside the house where they were greeted by the overthrown Prime Minister.

"Princess, it's good to see that you're safe," Carmichael stated.

"It's good to see that you escape from Central City in one piece," Sally said.

"It was your friends along with a Ghost strike team that I have to give thanks," he replied, "although I don't believe I've met your friend before."

"Actually...we have," NICOLE stated, "I was simply restricted to my handheld until recently."

"Ah, the AI," Carmichael said.

"What are the state of things?" Sally asked.

"The Vanu still have a hold on Central City, but the rebel factions keep growing in strength and are keeping them occupied," he replied.

"Then there's the part where the Vanu have begun making a push into the county side, not to mention the prison camp in what's left of Graschek," another voice stated.

The Don of the Mezzo Crime Family stepped into the entryway, his appearance was immaculate, even if he was dressed in a white t-shirt, flannel pajama bottoms, covered by a black bathrobe a matching slippers.

"Princess, good to see that you have returned safely," he said.

"Have your people received any contact from the team that headed to ODIN's Data Center?" Carmichael asked.

"Nothing, but I wouldn't be too concerned, they are Ghosts after all, if they can't get ODIN back under our control then no one can."

"What about Sonic and the others?" NICOLE asked.

"They're escorting a group of prisoners to the Marlowe Trading Post where they'll be smuggled to Umoja," Carmichael answered.

"I need to get in touch with Sonic and the others," Sally said, "they need to know that I'm alright."

"Communications are a mess right now," Mezzo stated, "I'm sure we can get you into contact, but it may take time."

"I suppose I have little choice in the matter," Sally admitted.

* * *

Location: Mar Sara

Two hours later...

* * *

The Marlowe Trading Post was situated within the Mar Sara Province atop an elevated area known a White Rock. For the better of an hour they had been forced to dodge numerous patrols in order to get the formerly imprisoned Mobians to safety. Sonic was surprised that the Vanu were deploying their people into the countryside to extend their control, especially when rebel forces in the capital were fighting tooth and nail against them. A pair of Hellions swerved onto the road from a wooded area and began chasing them, forcing Delta to go on the offensive. She grabbed her AGR-14 assault rifle and pushed her way to the back of the flatbed, firing at the tires of one of the pursuing Hellion. The exploding tire sent the vehicle swerving across the road as the driver tried to regain control, he over compensated and the entire Hellion into a rollover. The fuel tanks of the Hellion ruptured, spewing napalm along the ground as it went up in a fireball. Flaming shards of metal rained down as the second Hellion continued its pursuit of them. If it got within range then they would be defenceless against the onslaught of its mounted Infernal flamethrower. Delta focused her Pyrokinetic abilities directly on the fuel canisters of the pursuing Hellion, trying to convince the volatile liquid inside that it was alright to ignite. The vehicle went up like a Roman candle, but it had gotten way too close to comfort by the time she was able 'convince' the fuel that it was alright to ignite. She quickly raised the AGR-14 assault rifle and fired several rounds through the windshield, striking the driver in the torso and head, causing the vehicle to roll into a ditch. With the tail now gone the flatbed was free to continue along its path for several more minutes until the driver pulled onto a dirt road that winded all the way up White Rock to the Marlowe Trading Post. The Trading Post looked like more like a shanty town with several makeshift buildings thrown together around a log cabin. The flatbed pulled to a stop in the center of the 'town', allowing the freed Mobians a chance to disembark. A male Terran with large bulging eyes and dressed in a black hooded jacket and matching pants emerged from one of the buildings and marched over to the vehicle.

"We need to get these refugees out of here," Delta said.

"You're in luck, my dropship has recently returned," Mutt stated, "You got my fee?"

Delta reached for a pouch on her utility belt and removed a cred card, handing it over to the smuggler.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen if you'll come right this way we'll get you to safety," Mutt said, pocketing the cred card.

"What a creep," she murmured.

"Why are you here exactly?" Amy asked, walking up.

"What?"

"You could've gone with the others when they left to retake ODIN's Data Center, why'd you choose to come with us?"

"Lio's technopathic abilities are better suited for getting ODIN back under our control then mine are," she answered, "I have pyrokinesis, which means I can set things on fire using nothing but my mind, like those Hellion's fuel tanks for example."

"...Point taken," Amy said.

"Still...Even if we were to get ODIN back under our control, I'm not entirely sure what our next move would be."

"Would attempting to retake the capital be considered a stretch?" Sonic questioned, approaching.

"Maybe if we had the entire Terran Republic Marine Corp backing us up, but we're without air support," Delta stated, "The Vanu saw to that when they assaulted the dockyards."

"Still, there's got to be something we can do?" Amy said.

"Let's get back to the Mezzo Estate and see if the others managed to make it back," Delta suggested.

A beeping soon filled the air as Delta removed a comm. link from her belt and immediately switched the device on.

"This is Emblock," she said.

"It's Mezzo, put Sonic on immediately," he ordered.

"Mezzo wants to talk to you," she stated, tossing the comm. link into Sonic's outstretched hand.

"Yeah?" the hedgehog asked.

"Sonic, it's me," Sally said.

"Sal!? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but Madubin Island fell under attack by the Vanu Sovereignty while NICOLE and I were there," she answered.

"What about-"

"He's fine," Sally replied, knowing that he was speaking about Zulon, "He managed to get us teleported out of there."

"We're on our way back," Sonic stated.

"No rush, I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

Location: Mezzo Estate

One hour later...

* * *

Sonic leapt from the back of the flatbed even before the truck pulled to a stop and raced to the front of the estate where Carmichael was waiting for them.

"Where is she?" Sonic demanded as the Prime Minister stepped aside.

The Hedgehog immediately raced into the house and found Sally sitting on the couch in the mansion's finely decorated living room with NICOLE next to her.

"Sal!" he said the moment her spotted her

The Princess immediately leapt to her feet and rushed over to the hedgehog, embracing him in a hug that lasted for several seconds.

"I'm glad you're alright," he said.

"I'm glad that you and the others managed to make it out of the city," she replied, breaking their embrace when the others entered.

"Sally-girl!" Bunnie called out, rushing to hug her.

"Good to see you, Bunnie," she said.

"NICOLE? How are you capable of manifesting a physical form?" Tails asked, upon noticing her.

"It's a robotic body," she explained, "my computer form was so badly damaged that my AI needed to be transferred to this customized, robotic shell."

"Well it's good to have you back with us," Amy said.

"We've got more immediate concerns," Sally said, "The Vanu manufactured a virus using my blood intent on using it against our kind."

"They've got chemical weapons at their disposal?" Tails asked in horror.

"Not anymore," the Princess answered, "The Drilling Platform that I was being held on came under attack by some group calling themselves the Illuminati."

"There was the Bavarian Illuminati which existed from 1776 until 1785 when it was banned for reasons of treason and heresy," Mezzo said, entering the room, "though a 'modern illuminati' has never been confirmed to exist it they are usually associated with creating a totalitarian one-world government. Organizations such as the United Nations, European Union, NATO were seen as attempts to create a 'New World Order'."

"They did," Sally stated, "but when Ivan Kintobor dissected that Xorda Emissary their control over the world ended. Now they're trying to restore Humanity's position as the dominant species on the planet by exterminating all non-humans; Terran, Overlander, and Mobians."

"Why Terrans and Overlanders? Wouldn't we be considered Human?" Carmichael questioned.

"The Illuminati see the Overlanders as mutants," NICOLE explained, "on the other hand they view the Terrans as a sub-species."

"They're not just a threat to your kind but ours and the Overlanders," Mezzo commented.

"Tatarin's also some sort of pawn in their plan - Subject: Null of a Project: Genesi, he's not even Terran," Sally stated.

"We had no reason to suspect him otherwise, he was just an eleven-year-old boy found wondering half-naked through the jungle," Carmichael commented, "a resident of illegal settlement out within Murasia."

"That's what he had hoped you'd believe," Sally replied.

"So these 'Illuminati People' have taken possession of a virus that the Vanu manufactured using your blood and intend to use it against us?" Sonic questioned.

"Let's concentrate on one

outstanding issue at a time, shall we?" Carmichael suggested.

"The Prime Minister is correct," Mezzo stated, "we can't do anything about the Illuminati so long as Tatarin and the Vanu Sovereignty are in charge."

"He's right," Tails admitted.

"Alright...so what's the plan?" Sonic questioned.

"Until ODIN is back under our control there's nothing we can do," the Prime Minister answered.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Metal Revival

Location: Madubin Island

Early morning...

* * *

A pair of oval-shaped green eyes stared out from the shadows of the workshop located within the estate's emergency bunker. He watched in silence as Zulon stood dressed in just his white briefs with a pair of sneakers on his feet, his arm shoulder-deep inside the Cyclone V2. With the temperature within the bunker having risen to 34.2°C, the monkey-tailed boy had shed the majority of his clothes in an effort to keep cool. He had a holographic computer strapped to his left arm, which he was using to carefully scan the interior of the vehicle. A soft beep emanated from the device and he immediately grabbed something from within the vehicle's chassis, planting his foot against the side as he pulled, detaching the object as he pulled his arm free. He held within his fingers the IFF beacon that Tatarin had been given to Tails so that he could fly the Cyclone within Augustgrad. Just by looking at it he could tell that it had been modified, doubling the device for the purposes of spying and tracking, which explained recent events. He placed the device on a nearby worktable and snatched a blow torch, igniting it as he seared a hole through it.

_"Finally,"_ the green-eyed figure said, "_now that that's over with, you can get back to work."_

"I see his personality rubbed off on you," Zulon commented.

_"My design was based on my organic template,"_ the figure said.

"And it shows...I'm already regretting installing your head first," he muttered.

_"Funny. Can you hurry up and install my legs, I might be up and running, but I need legs to make it literal."_  
He strolled over to a stereo that rested on a nearby workbench and switched on the power, before heading back towards the center of the room and plopping himself down on the floor.

_'The Green Hornet. He hunts the biggest of all game! Public enemies that even the G-Men cannot reach! The Green Hornet.'_

Zulon enjoyed the old radio shows from the early 1900's, and the Green Hornet was one that he enjoyed in particular. He grabbed an arm that he had been busy modifying and held it above his head; a pair of mechanical pincers descended from the ceiling and grasped the steel-gray appendage. It was transported over to where the green eyes stared out from the darkness. Three other limbs; an arm and two legs were similarly moved it into position, sparks showering the ground as they were welded into place. Each flash revealed the silhouette of a head and torso that belonging to a robotic hedgehog suspended within a reconstruction chamber. His eyes followed a collection of cables that snaked across the floor all the way to a table where a canister was located. Sealed inside was a shard of green crystal – the Power Gem, recovered from the charred remains of Knothole City.

_"So...what happened to everybody?"_ the robot asked.

"I've ordered them to relocate to Fortune City," he answered, "they'll be safer there then they would be if they stayed here."

With the Vanu Sovereignty still operating unchecked across Madubin Island and drawing dangerously closer to the bunker, he had ordered them to evacuate to Fortune City in Rio Del Santos, where the Black Ace Casino was located – his casino.  
_"Wouldn't it have been safer to have taken me along?"_

"You weigh over 200lbs, I'm not lugging you to my casino," the boy stated, "and I don't even have the necessary equipment there."

_"You own a casino?"_

"I own a nightclub too...or did. I don't really know if it's still standing since the fall of Central City," he stated, tapping his index finger against his chin.

The limbs were successfully wielded into place on the robot's body and several sprayers moved in to complete the painting process.

"I'll need you to head to Ice Mountain once you're ready to go," Zulon stated.

_"Why's that?"_ he questioned.

"A Ghost Team is trying to recover Observational Directed Intelligence Network – ODIN, he was compromised just before the coup," he explained.

_"I would've thought you would've dispatched me to aid Sonic and the others."_

"Admit it; you want to avoid seeing Sonic for as long as you can," Zulon said with a sly-look on his face.

_"Well...I did kidnap Tails...and Amy, and try to kill him," _he commented bitterly, eyes shifting about.

A beep captured Zulon's attention prompting him to climb to his feet and approach a series of monitors that displayed security footage.

"They've found us," he announced.

_"Great...now what?" _the voice questioned.

Zulon ignored him, instead marching over to a nearby bench and awkwardly pulled on black shorts while still having his sneakers on, along with a white t-shirt. He then grabbed Nénuphar and slipped the scabbard across his chest, before grabbing a pair of metal cylinders approximately 30 centimeters in length. The entire bunker suddenly shook, dislodging dust from the ceiling as the Cerberus Troopers had breached the interior. The boy estimated that he had at maximum thirty seconds before they breached the door to the engineering bay. Zulon quickly took up position by the hallway, and with batted breath waited for the inevitable to occur.

"Phantom!" Zulon called out.

The Reploid seemingly emerged from the shadows themselves, taking a place behind the young Saiyan Prince.

"You called for me, master?"

"I want you to get the Cyclone out of here," he ordered, "It's been de-bugged. Tails'll no doubt need it."

"And you?" he asked.

"I've got to hold off the Vanu while the machines finish painting v2.5," he stated.

_"Must you refer to me by my designation?" _the robot asked.

"I'm sorry; did you want me to call you Metal Sonic?"

_"I've ceased being his robotic doppelganger; I need to come up with a new name,"_ the robot stated.

"Might I make a suggestion?" Zulon asked.

_"Might as well."_

"How about...Shard."

_"Shard huh...you came up with that far too quickly,"_ he commented.

"Well...I may have been...inspired to rebuild you," Zulon admitted, glancing down at his wrist-mounted holo-computer.

The Saiyan made a mental note that the painting process had just finished and the drying process had just started.

_"Care to explain?"_

"...Fine! I've been spying on Mobius Prime," he announced, "In that reality, you've been already rebuilt as Shard by Sir Charles and are working for Harvey Who's Secret Freedom Fighters."

_"Ah...I see,"_ the robot said

The door suddenly blew inward, narrowly missing Zulon as it slid across the floor, coming to a stop where the Cyclone had once been. Phantom had left without a word, taking the walker with him, thereby preventing the ruined door from slamming into it. The first of the Cerberus Troopers stepped into the hallway, and Zulon fiddled with one of the cylinders before tossing it over his head. The device exploded as it landed behind the trooper, dislodging even more dust from the ceiling. The boy immediately stepped out into the open and took aim with the second cylinder, firing a burst of plasma from the end. The shot hit one of the troopers stepping into the hallway, burning a hole through the material of the Powered Combat Suit. It was clearly made of a composite material and not Neosteel, as the plasma burned through it far too quickly. He fire shot after shot as the Cerberus Troopers filed into the kill box, that was until one armed with a M98 Combat Shield stepped out from cover. Zulon fired several shots, but were merely absorbed by the shield itself.

"Of course the combat shield would be constructed of better material then the armour," he growled.

The shield wielding trooper fired several rounds from its C-14 Impaler, forcing the Saiyan back and prompting him to use the ruined door as a shield. He could feel the spikes embedding themselves into the metal, and heaved the door at the attackers in an effort to catch them off guard. Slamming into the entryway, Zulon throw his whole weight against the door in an effort to keep the troopers out. The boy triggered the device to overload and tossed it over the busted door setting off yet another explosion that collapsed the hallway.

"Time to go!" he hollered, glancing in the direction of Shard.

The machines had finished their duties and the supports keeping the robot stable disengaged, allowing the reborn Metal Sonic v2.5 to step out of the maintenance chamber. Black, gold, and grey paint gleamed in the dim lighting, while his metal body had a slight red tint to it from being heated up. Shard moved across the room, grabbing the cylinder that contained his Power Gem. He carefully removed the top portion from the cylinder, being careful not to dislodge the gem, which would've cut off his power supply. He jammed the entire thing into his still open chest cavity, stuffing the wires inside and causing the dull grey metal to slowly form around it.

_"Ready to go,"_ Shard announced.

Zulon marched across the room to a control panel and began flipping several switches, opening a section of the ceiling. Shard was standing directly beneath the opening and tapped the Power Gem, causing it and his eyes to change from green to red. The renegade Metal Sonic Unit activated his jet booster, launching himself into the hole and into the night sky. There was about three hour before the sun would rise, but Shard could make out lights coming from the nearby town of Elsecaro. Zulon appeared before him several seconds later, his entire body was enveloped in a golden flame-like aura.

"Better get a move on," he suggested.

_"What about you bunker? I doubt you want the Vanu getting a hold of anything inside,"_ Shard stated.

"Oh...right," he muttered.

Zulon charged Chi within the palm of his right hand and fired a blast into the hole, causing a jet of flame to shot into the sky, the earth heaving as it collapsed into the crater.

"And done," he decleared.

_"I'll head to Ice Mountain then," _Shard announced.

"I'm heading to Fortune City; let Sally know that we made it out alright."

_"Understood,"_ the robotic hedgehog said, rocketing off towards the mainland.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Back Online

Location: Ice Mountain, Chau Sara

Forty-five minutes later...

* * *

The moment that the three members of Blue Team were in close proximity to ODIN's Data Center they discovered that the Vanu had fortified their position. Bunkers and missile turrets had been constructed at the site, while Siege Tanks and Goliaths had been deployed along the perimeter. Nova gazed through the scope of her rifle, taking notice of the Hellbats, Warhounds, and the Thor that had also been deployed. The Hellbat was a robotic battle mode for the Hellion, while the Warhound was an anti-vehicle weapon-system.

"Great. Why don't they throw in some Widow Mines or a Shredder," Nova commented.

"Well, we knew this wouldn't be a cakewalk," Kath admitted.

"I don't think we took into consideration that the deck would be so stacked against us," Lio stated, "How are we planning to go about this."

"What'd I do to be authorized to call in a nuclear strike," Nova murmured.

"Do you have any idea the political fallout that'd result if a nuclear weapon were to be used on our own soil?" Lio questioned.

"Just thinking out loud, Lio," she sighed.

"Regardless, we can't just sit here doing nothing," Kath interjected.

"I'll dominate the mind of the Thor pilot," she said, "That'll distract them long enough for you to take out those that you can from a distance."

The other two Ghosts nodded and Nova immediately placed her index and middle fingers against her temples, projecting her thoughts across the valley, clouding the mind of the pilot.

_"You are surrounded by traitors!"_

"Death to the rebels," the pilot declared, targeting a nearby Siege Tank with its 230mm Strike Cannons.

The tank erupted in a brilliant ball of fire and causing every soldier in the area to turn to see what in the world was going on. A firefight erupted between the Thor and its former compatriots, giving Lio and Kath a chance to put a round in each of the Cerberus Troopers. The Thor sustained critical damage and went up like a Roman candle, causing a psychic-backlash made Nova feel as if she had been punched in the stomach. She pushed aside her discomfort and immediately refocused her attention on trying to exert her influence on the pilot of a nearby Goliath. His mind was 'fuzzy', the typical result of someone who had undergone the procedure of Neural Resocialization. Her attempts to dominate the pilot's mind were soon interrupted when one of the Missile Turrets targeted something with a pair of Longbolt missile. Nova watched as the missiles arced across the night sky, aimed in the direction of an approaching, yellow light. The object immediately banked out of the way, the missiles overshooting their intended target before self-destructing. The missiles had a limited guidance system, which meant that they would self-destruct after a curtain period, in the event they missed their target. Another pair of missiles were launched from the turret, and Nova pulled down her goggles, activating its night-vision mode. The 'object' was in actuality a person or rather a robot; a hedgehog with a black body that was accented in gold with a red jewel set into the center of its chest. The missiles hurtled towards the robot, prompting it to reconfigure its left arm into a plasma blaster. The robotic hedgehog fired a pair of shots that detonated the missiles and fired a third that destroyed the launcher. Kath and Lio had done their job of eliminating the Cerberus Troopers, but the mechs remained a nuisance. The hedgehog-shaped robot continued it approach, unloading its arm cannon at the mechanized vehicles. Nova quickly dominated the mind of another Goliath, forcing its occupant to turn on his allies. It twin auto cannons easily tore through the armor of the Hellbats, before turning the weapons against another Goliath. As the remaining defenders were cleared out, the robotic hedgehog cut power to its booster and dropped from the sky. Nova whirled around, training her weapon on the newcomer, causing him to throw his arms up in defense.

_"WOAH! WOAH! I'm on your side,"_ he said, waving his hands about.

"I find that hard to believe," she said, "just because you assisted us doesn't mean you're on our side."

_"Well...can't argue with that,"_ he murmured.

"Who are you!?" Kath demanded, approaching.

_"Well...first my designation was Metal Sonic v1.0, then v2.0, and finally v2.5, but you can call me Shard,"_ he introduced.

"Who sent you?" Nova asked.

_"Can't say,"_ he answered, _"I've got a history with Sonic though. The one who sent me said you'd be needing help getting ODIN back online."_

"I don't trust you," Nova stated.

_"I would hope not,"_ Shard commented, _"I've done nothing to earn your trust."_

The Robo Hedgehog proceeded towards the entrance of the facility, turning around and waited for the three Republic Ghosts to catch up, tapping his foot out of boredom. Nova reluctantly decided to allow the newcomer to tag along with them, though she would be keeping an eye on him just in case he tried anything.

_"I'm picking up residual heat signatures,"_ Shard reported.

"They must've headed deeper into the facility when the shooting started," Lio commented.

"They're probably fortifying their position around ODIN's Data Center," Kath surmised.

"Let's not give them anymore time," Nova said, waltzing past.

The quartet proceeded through the facility, passing by the numerous bodies of the security forces, slaughtered at the hands of the Vanu Sovereignty. Shard reframed from utilizing his booster, the last thing they wanted to do was to alert the enemy that they were on their way. The burning remains of an ARES blocked their path, placed there in order to slow them down. Lio approached the obstruction and placed has hand against its surface, closing his eye and concentrating.

_"What's he doing?"_ Shard questioned.

"Lio's a Technopath," Kath explained, "He can use his mind to interface with technology."

The bald-headed Ghost's eyes shifted rapidly beneath his closed lids for several more seconds before opening them once more. He stepped back and the group watched as the disabled ARES suddenly rumbled to life. With difficulty, the ARES managed to maneuver itself around and slowly began rolling down the hallway.

"I asked 'him' to clear out the Data Core for us," Lio said.

"That'll keep them busy until we get there," Kath commented.

They gave the ARES a head start before pursuing the warbot, and by the time they neared the Data Core they could hear the sound missiles being deployed from the warbot's T82 Missile Pods.

_"Sounds like he's engaged the enemy,"_ Shard commented.

"Or he's encountered another obstruction," Lio suggested.

The group quickly raced down the hallway, finding that the warbot had removed a barricade from its path constructed from damaged Siege Tanks, Goliaths, and other warbots. The ARES had engaged the Cerberus Troopers guarding the Data Core and was tearing them apart, along with several Goliaths. The facility's defense systems kicked in and Shard rocketed into the chamber, firing his blaster in an attempt to neutralize the attacks against the already damaged warbot. The Ghost Trio managed to catch up, taking shots at the Cerberus Troopers that the ARES had missed. An explosion rocked the chamber and a segment of the ceiling fell away, colliding with the floor as another mechanized unit dropped from the hole. It was a variant of the A2 Viking Armored Mechanical Hybrid with improved firepower known as the Archangel.

"How the hell did the Vanu get a hold of one of those?" Nova thought, ducking behind a destroyed Siege Tank.

The Archangel fired its chain guns, tearing through the already compromised armour of the ARES, destroying the warbot. Kath and Lio had similar thought patterns, ducking behind cover that they prayed would hold-up against the assault. Shard pelted the Archangel with shots from his arm cannon, distracting it long enough for Nova reached behind her back, groping for the E-11 Lockdown device.

_"You will switch to aircraft mode,"_ she projected to the pilot.

The Archangel transformed into a sleek-looking jet and hovered above the battlefield, firing missiles at the ground.

_"Firing E-11,"_ Nova projected.

_"Hedgehog, get out of the way, you don't want to get caught in the blast radius,"_ Lio projected.

Shard, slightly disturbed by the fact that was possible to telepathically communicate with him, immediately rocketed away from the Archangel as Nova fired the device. The mechanized aircraft seemed to float in the air for a fraction of a second before slamming into the floor. The smell of liquid Vespene filled the air, a fuel line having been dislodged in the crash. Shard fired a shot at the ever widening puddle beneath the Archangel, causing an ignition that quickly consumed the vehicle. The fire roared for several seconds until the fuel tanks erupted, hurling shrapnel in every direction. Once the deadly fragments had stopped flying, Nova stepped out from behind cover followed by Lio and Kath. Shard descended from the air, landing with a soft clank as he tapped the gemstone embedded within his chassis, switching it and his eyes from red to neon green.

_"Well that was fun,"_ the robot said sarcastically, _"What now?"_

Lio spoke not a word as the separated from the group and approached the control console, pressing his hands against the surface and closing his eyes. The Ghost closed his eyes, linking his mind to the computer system and the AI stored within. The monitors before them lit up and a series of neon green letters appear on the screen.

"Y0U DaRE ENTeR MY REa!M!?"

"I've come to help you ODIN," Lio stated.

"1 NEeD n0 HE!p," AI assured.

"Your systems and this facility have been compromised. The Vanu Sovereignty has overthrown the government on your watch."

"WHaT HaVE ThEY D0NE?" ODIN asked, "1 H VE BEEN M DE B!1ND."

"The Vanu have gathered the Mobian Community and have either imprisoned them within concentration camps or executed them," Lio explained, "We need to extract you and get back system control."

"UNaB!E t0 C0MP!Y," ODIN stated, "V1RU$ DETEcTED 1N PR1MaRY D1RECT1VE."

"Can you activate your antivirus functions?" he questioned.

"NEGaT1VE. aNT1V1RU$ $0FTWaRE 0FF!1NE," ODIN reported.

"Can you prep you're backups for extraction," Lio asked.

"PREP1NG...aCCE$$ 0F BaCKUP$ N0W aVa1aB!E," ODIN reported.

A portion of the console slid open and a sizable cylinder was ejected, waiting for someone to remove it fully. Shard remained where he was, watching as Kath stepped forward and grasped the devices handle, yanking it out of the recess. The cylinder completely see-through and was filled with numerous electronic components that flashed repeated with a verity of colours.

"ODIN, re-establish communications and initiate facility's self-destruct protocols...five minutes," he ordered.

"aCKN0w!EDGEd," the AI warned, as a burst of static come from Nova's comm. link.

"$E!F-DE$TRUCT PR0T0C0!$ aCT!VaTED, P!Ea$E PR0CEED T0 M1N1MUM $aFE D1$TaNCE."

"This is Agent X41822N to High Command, package secured – requesting immediate extraction from Flannum Installation," Nova said, racing for the hall.

Multiple people were trying to relay messages and orders overtop one another, making it difficult for her to make out any of the conversations, but somehow the voice of their commanding officer; General Leonid Celsus managed to rise above the noise.

"This is General Celsus, request acknowledged. Evac is en route to your location."

The group emerged from the facility as the first explosion ripped through it, sending them fleeing as far as their feet (or boosters in the case of Shard) could carry them.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 25: Rivalry Reborn

Location: Mezzo Estate

That same time...

* * *

Sonic couldn't stand sitting around doing nothing, it wasn't in his nature and he could feel himself beginning to go stir crazy. His constant fidgeting had made it impossible to get to sleep, and the hours simply ticked by. Frustrated, the hedgehog sat up in bed and swung his legs over the side, slipping his feet into his sneakers. A run across the countryside was exactly the thing he needed in order to burn off all his excess energy. As he stepped onto the mansion's main floor he was greeted to the sound of static coming from the kitchen. Peering inside, Sonic discovered Tails tinkering with an old ham radio at the table, the light above the stove providing the only illumination.

"No luck sleeping, big guy?" Sonic asked.

"No. If I'm not gonna sleep I might as well do something constructive instead," the fox-boy sighed.

"I know what you mean, can't stand doing nothing," he said in agreement, "Say...what are you doing anyways?"

"Trying to see if I can get this radio working," Tails explained, adjusting the dials.

"Would you really get a signal? I mean ODIN still offline...right?"

"Nova and the others haven't checked in yet, I'm more interested in the possibility that there are broadcasts coming from pirate radio stations," he stated.

"Guess any news on the situation would be a help."

"You're telling me. You can't sleep either?"

"I can't stand not doing something," Sonic admitted.

"Is that why you're planning on going for a run?" Tails asked.

"Darn. How'd you know?"

"You're too easy to read, Sonic."

"Well then," the hedgehog said, feigning hurt, "I'll just be going then."

"C'mon Sonic, I was just kidding," Tails said.

Sonic was already gone, stepping out onto the deck of the mansion and tore off into the distance, letting his speed carry him through the surrounding forest. He raced into Mar Sara, past the Vespene Refinery located outside the rural town of Anthem, the site of his arrest during his first night in Augustgrad. Running past a small collection of farms, the sound of a jet engine reached his ears, causing him to glance over his shoulder. He discovered that he was being followed, his pursuer – a robotic hedgehog with a black body accented in gold, red oval-shaped eyes and a matching crystal shard embedded in its chest.

"That...looks like the Power Gem Core...No way! It's the original Metal Sonic! Eggman must've rebuilt him!" Sonic growled.

His lips curled into a snarl and he skidded to a stop, twisting his body around and launched himself into the air in the direction of his robotic doppelganger.

_"Whoa! No! Wait!"_ Shard cried out.

Sonic slam headfirst into the robot, knocking the robot out of the air and sending him colliding into a nearby farmer's field, his metal quills carving up the dirt.

_"Not the reunion I was hoping for,"_ he chastised himself, climbing to his feet.

Sonic was tearing across the field, intent on colliding with his robot counterpart, forcing him to ignite his jet engine and take to the air. The hedgehog seized the robot by the leg as he was taking off, using his momentum to swing himself into the air. The sudden added weight put too much strain on Metal Sonic's engine, sending them both careening through the door of a nearby barn. Sonic shook the splintered wood from his quills; his head was spinning from the impact as his eyes fell upon Metal Sonic. His body was covered in dents, his metal quills bent in an awkward angle, while his left ear had become detached from his head, dangling loosely by several wires. Sonic was on his feet and lashed out with his right leg, forcing Metal Sonic to block the attack with both arms.

_"URGH! Listen I'm here to help you!"_ he said.

"You just want to take me out yourself!" Sonic said, slamming him against the wall of the barn.

_"Sonic, please! You taught me the value of life,"_ Shard pleaded.

Sonic gazed into the eyes of the resurrected Metal Sonic, finding them oval-shaped rather then the half-rings that the Doc's Metal Sonic models were know for.

"I can vouch for him," a voice decleared, "my master did rebuild him after all."

Sonic glanced over his shoulder and discovered Phantom sitting atop a nearby robo-harvester, one leg dangling pver the side.

"Geoffrey St. John and the Royal Secret Service recovered the gem at Mount Mobius, while investigating Metal Sonic's attack on you," he explained, "It was transported to Knothole Village for safekeeping."

"Wait! Ol' Stink-face found the gem?" Sonic questioned.

_"Yes, but it...er I...was later stolen by Robotnik, and in order to prevent him from misusing the gem, Geoffrey undertook a solo recovery mission to New Megaopolis, delivering it to your uncle,"_ Shard added.

"Lemme guess, Uncle Chuck used the data to build those Metal Sonic Troopers that A.D.A.M. later highjacked," Sonic said.

"That would be correct," Phantom answered, "After the Destruction of Knothole, my master sifted through what remained and found the Power Gem, using it to reconstruct Robotnik's Metal Sonic Unit."

_"Ahem,"_ the robot interrupted.

"Oh...right. Guess you've settled on a new name."

_"It's Shard,"_ he said, glancing at Sonic.

"Shard?" Sonic asked.

_"I'm sick being just a robotic-doppelganger."_

"Guess that explains the funky-looking paint job?" Sonic said, "I suppose this make us cool."

"I recovered the Cyclone and my master removed the IFF beacon that Tails was issued by Tatarin. It was a bug, and it's how he found the location of the island and how he was able to lure Sally into a trap," Phantom explained.

"Tails'll be glad to know that the Cyclone's in one piece," the hedgehog said, approaching the vehicle, "He's been worrying ever since we had to abandon the Prime Minister's residence. Where is it?"

"I've hidden it nearby," Phantom reported.

"Are the Vanu still running around your master's island?" Sonic asked, "Sally said that they had invaded."

"We were forced to abandon the island after they breached the security bunker," he answered, "They've retreat to the Black Ace Casino in Fortune City...everyone's fine."

"Don't tell me he owns a casino on top of that nightclub?"

"My master's got his hands in many different businesses."

"What about you? If you're here to help, then how do you intend on doing that?" Sonic questioned, glancing at Shard.

_"Hey! I just help those Ghosts retrieve their ODIN Unit__,"_ he stated.

"Wait...you mean communications are back online?"

"That would be correct," Phantom answered, "should I drop off the Cyclone at Mezzo's estate or will you be doing that?"

"You'd better. I'm capable of piloting the Tornado, but the Cyclone is a different machine altogether," Sonic admitted.

"Very well," Phantom said as he teleported away.

"So...the others are gonna find this awkward," the hedgehog stated.

_"No really?"_ Shard asked sarcastically, _"I can't see why Tails and Amy would hold a grudge; I only kidnapped them and held them against their will."_

"We better get a move on then. Last one to Mezzo's estate is a rotten egg," Sonic said as he tore off across the landscape.

_"You cheater!" _Shard yelled, activating his jet booster and taking off in presuit.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28: PROJECT: GENESI

Location: Korhal Desert

Daybreak...

* * *

The sun was just beginning to rise over the Korhal Desert and already waves of heat already radiating off the sand that stretched across the provinces of Ash'Arak and Rio Del Santos. Korhal was an enigma compared to the rest of Augustgrad, for whatever reason nothing but the hardiest of plants were capable of growing out there. The desert region was one of the most under settled areas in the Terran Republic, the largest populations being based in Styrling and Fortune City, with few settlements lying in between. Gabriel Tosh brought his Vulture-class hover bike to a stop and pushed his sunglasses up onto his forehead to gaze across the wasteland. He wore a black version of the standard issued hostile environment worn by Republic Ghosts, but pulsed with red lights. He could already see waves of heat rising up from the sand, but the Ghost suit automatically adjusted itself to keep him comfortable. The gambling and entertainment Mecca of Fortune City was in the distance, appearing as black silhouette against the rising sun. Fortunes were won and lost on a daily basis amongst the neon lights of the city, but did little to dissuade the Terrans from trying to strike it rich. He couldn't help but wonder if the compulsive gamblers were even aware that the government that been overthrown. His distracted thoughts were soon interrupted by the sound of another Vulture reached his ears, causing Tosh to glance over his shoulder and found that Dylanna Okyl had finally caught up.

"How much further?" she asked.

"Should be just beyond da next rise," he stated.

"And just why are we wasting our time trekking through this godforsaken desert?" Dylanna asked.

"An aircraft was detected crashin' near Los Muertos," Tosh answered, "ODIN detected not long after his backup was installed back in HIGHCOM."

"Shouldn't the local authorities be the ones investigating? It hardly seems a worthy use of us."

"It's neither civilian nor military; in fact ODIN can't find it in the database."

"Could be Eggman's, he's still running around in Augustgrad right?" she questioned.

"As far as anyone knows," Tosh answered.

"Well...better get going then," she sighed.

Tosh slipped his goggles over his milky white eyes and revved the engine of his Vulture before tearing across the desert sand. They reached Los Muertos barely two minutes later, situated in the shadows between two large mesas and discovered the crashed remains of some sort of stratospheric transport. Tosh could clearly tell that the mysterious vessel wasn't of Terran design, but as he stared down at the ship he noticed several people who were picking through the remains of the crash site.

"See? Waste of time," Dyla decleared.

"Quite," Tosh hissed, activating his suit's Nyx-class cloaking module.

He disappeared in a ripple of red light and immediately headed closer to the crash site, hoping to eavesdrop on scavengers. It was fortunate that Los Muertos had been abandoned some fifteen years prior; the vessel had plowed into several of buildings that had once made up the town, which would've resulted in several deaths. The desert sands had been slowly reclaiming the area, and the streets and roads of the town had all but vanished, but now the buildings were smashed it wouldn't be long before the desert won out. The Spectre slid his way down the hill, rolling into cover behind a broken wall once he reached the bottom. There was man standing near the wall, with long, dark brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail, with a pair of bangs that hung in his face, and decked out in a form-fitting exoskeleton. Tosh's eyes were immediately drawn to the katana housed with its sheath that hung from the back of the samurai-like man's waist.

"Status report," the man ordered, in a Russian accent.

One of the scavengers emerged from the crash site, forcefully dragging someone behind him and threw the man at the feet of the Samurai. He was a baldheaded, approximately in his early forties, dressed in the medical scrubs of a doctor. He had a gash on his forehead, likely sustained when the transport had crashed that was bleeding profusely.

"Dr. Schakal," the swordsman stated, "developed a conscious did we?"

"After the atrocities Taurus had us commit?" he snarled, "I'm more surprised that I'm the only one."

"What did you find?" the Samurai asked, momentarily ignoring the scientist.

"All the test subjects that were missing are now are accounted for," he reported.

"But...," the swordsman pried.

"The chamber assigned to SUBJECT: VIERZEHN ver2.0 has broken opened."

"What'd his status?"

"Unknown. We found several bloody footprints leading away from the crash site; they go straight into the desert."

"He couldn't have gone far," the Samurai stated, before glancing at the doctor, "unless you wanted him to get away."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Vladislav," Schakal stated.

"Don't lie to me; we've gone through your journal, we know you've developed an attachment to the boy," he accused, "calling him by his real name instead of his designation – SUBJECT: VIERZEHN ver2.0."

"I've been involved in his development since he was two-years-old," Schakal replied, "I can't help it if I slip up his name."

"Except he was deemed a failure, but you went behind the director's back and subjected him to even more experiments, all in the hopes that you could spare him the fate of being scrapped."

"I was trying to save two years of work!" the doctor shouted.

"Maybe at first, but once you learned the true goals of PROJECT: GENESI you took it upon yourself to save them," Vladislav stated.

"Taurus would have us turn them into weapons," he stated.

"Of course, how else would you purge the genetically impure?" the Russian questioned, "the virus that the Vanu Sovereignty unwittingly developed for us will eliminate the Mobians. However, the Terrans and Overlanders require...other means."

_"Dyla, what's the ETA on the rest of the Screamers?"_ Tosh projected.

_"Gimme a moment...__Kvasir__ says that Sloan and the others are crossing the __Vitalidad Dam, shouldn't be more then t__en minutes."_

_"I don't think we may not have that kind of time."_

"What should we do, sir?" the man asked.

"Begin unhooking the cryo-chambers, a team from the Phendrana Laboratory will be here soon," he ordered, before turning his attention back to Schakal, "I'll recover SUBJECT: VIERZEHN ver2.0."

"And what is to happen to me?" Schakal questioned.

"You will die," Vladislav answered.

In the blink of an eye, Vladislav had unsheathed the katana, its crimson blade shinning in the early morning light. He raised the blade above his head, preparing to slay the traitorous doctor when a gunshot rang out, knocking the weapon free. The samurai whirled around, spotting Tosh hidden amongst the rubble, the AGR-28 assault rifle in his hands. He floored one of the scavengers, blood spilling onto the sand from the grizzly bullet wound he had sustained to his throat. Tosh fired a second shot, manipulating the bullet's trajectory enough to hit another one of the men. Several more gun shots filled the air, but they weren't his, nor were they the mystery men's. Tosh knew that Dyla was providing covering fire for him, and immediately fired on the samurai. His movements were like liquid, allowing him to dodge the bullets with ease and retrieve his fallen sword. Seizing hold of the hilt of the katana, he swung it about, deflecting the bullets away with inhuman speed. Tosh watched as Vladislav leapt atop the crashed transport, quickly vanishing from sight. With the men dead and the samurai having retreated, Tosh emerged from behind cover, confident that they would not come under attack.

"Oh thank you!" Schakal said, "They were going to kill me."

Tosh ignored the man's delectation of gratitude; a quick scan of his surface thoughts filled him with nothing but disgust. He approached the man and smashed the butt of his rifle into his face, breaking his nose and dripping blood onto the sand.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" he cried out in surprise.

"You know why," Tosh said angrily.

"We were just doing what we were told," he stated, "I didn't know the true purpose of PROJECT: GENESI until recently, when Taurus ordered the shutdown of Research Lab Phendrana...said that SUBJECT: NULL's expiration date was fast approaching."

"Who is this Taurus?" Tosh demanded.

"I donno," he admitted, "but I uncovered evidence that suggests he's part of the of the Illuminati's Inner Council. They're the true masterminds behind all this," Schakal answered.

"The Illumaniti...?" Dyla questioned.

"They were the modern day descendents of the Bavarian Illuminati until the Xorda launched an attack in retaliation for the dissection of their emissary," the doctor explained, "They want to control the world, just as they had all those millennia ago. Please...you must save my boy."

The sound of several Vulture hover bikes filled the air, prompting Tosh to turn around and watched as the remaining Screamers came flying down the hill. He immediately headed for the closest Vulture and commandeered it, intent on hunting down the samurai and SUBJECT: VIERZEHN ver2.0."


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29: Metamorphosis

Location: Stahlkörper Scrap Yard

Fifteen minutes later...

* * *

Twisted Neosteel reached into the morning sky, like the claws of some beast left to decompose in the hot desert sand. He had tracked Vladislav to the Stahlkörper Scrap Yard, a place where decommissioned vessels were melted down for scrap. Tosh steered the Vulture towards the eyesore and almost immediately received a radiation warning from his suit. He wasn't at all surprised; the entire area had been made into a giant toxic waste dump by those who lazily chose not to properly dispose of the power cores. He ditched the Vulture outside the scrap yard and after removing the AGR-28 from his back and proceeded into the scrap yard. He received several more radiation alerts, forcing him to make a series of detours in order to avoid them. With his finger on the trigger, Tosh moved through the wreckage, checking any opening for the possibility of ambush. He heard the sound of metal creaking and glanced up, watching a black silhouette dashed across the sun's rays. Tosh fired a burst from his assault rifle, aiming in the direction of the fleeing figure, but failing score a hit. He watched Vladislav leaping from perch to perch, a swing of his katana sheered away sections of metal that were sent hurtling towards the ground. Tosh had mere seconds to leap out of the way as debris smashed into the ground, throwing dust thrown into the air. The dust was too thick for the Spectre to see, but the Cyborg Samurai was nearby, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. As he moved through the wreckage of what had been a Hercules-class dropship, rotating his body about in an effort to cover the openings. Tosh stepped into a clearing and stopped, making a mental note of his surroundings when he heard the creaking of metal. He whirled around, finding Vladislav standing behind him with katana raised above his head. Tosh rolled backwards, avoiding the swing and fired off several rounds from the AGR-28. The samurai easily deflected the bullets away, closing the gap between them and sliced through the barrel of the assault rifle. The Spectre smashed the damaged weapon into the stomach of the samurai, sending him to his knees and attempted to drive the butt into his face. Vladislav seized his wrist in a vice-like grip, twisting it at an awkward angle that forced him to drop the rifle as he was head butted in the face. The Spectre dropped the damaged weapon and stumbled backwards, but had little time to concern himself with his bleeding nose as the samurai assaulted him. Tosh pulled free a balisong that was tucked within his utility belt and blocked the katana, which required all of his strength to hold it back. Smashing his shoulder into Vladislav's chest and driving him back, Tosh reached out and telekinetic seized a hold of an obsolete Confederate Avenger fighter craft and hurled it in his general direction. The samurai swung his blade, sheering the aircraft in half and sent the two pieces slamming into the ground behind him. One of the pieces collided with a wall of scrap metal, causing an avalanche of debris to rain down upon them. A Troopship slammed into the ground where Tosh had been standing, forcing him to run for cover, dodging outdated Wraiths and even a Sloth earth mover. He could see where Vladislav had disappeared to, hopefully buried beneath the debris, but that was unlikely. Having taken cover inside the cargo hold of a Merchantman, Tosh now found himself blocked by scores of twisted metal. He telekinetically shoved against the blockage, but realized that he wouldn't be getting out the same way he had entered. Turning around, Tosh glanced around the interior of the Merchantman, dust swirling about in the shafts of light that poured inside through holes in the ceiling.

_"I don' feel so good...am I dyin'?"_

Tosh immediately realized that he wasn't alone; someone was inside the Merchantman with him, their thoughts having betrayed their presence. He slowly moved amongst the abandoned shipping creates, discovering a boy slumped against one of the crates. He was approximately five-years-old with messy brown hair, his naked form unmoving. Tosh knew he stumbled across SUBJECT: VIERZEHN ver2.0 – Nicholas, but his trek through the scrap yard hadn't done him any good. The boy was suffering the effects of acute radiation poisoning and had fallen into a state of unconsciousness. He slowly approached the boy, gently placed two fingers against the boy's neck in search of a pulse. The boy's grey eyes suddenly snapped open, his body enveloped in a pale-blue energy, burning off him like smoke. Nicholas thrust his left arm forward and Tosh suddenly found himself flying across the cargo hold, his body slamming against one of the bulkheads. The boy was on his feet, seemingly unconcerned with his lack of clothing, but having read the mind of Dr. Schakal, Tosh knew as to the reason why that was.

"S-Stop! I need to protect you," Tosh pleaded, slumping to the floor.

"WHERE'S PAPA YURI!?" he screamed.

The boy was clearly delusional, but that didn't stop him from launching another attack, one that sent him crashing through an escape hatch. Tosh slammed into the desert sand, and discovered Vladislav standing in front of him. The samurai glanced up and found SUBJECT: VIERZEHN ver2.0 standing within the broken hatch, clearly out of breath.

"Ah...SUBJECT: VIERZEHN ver2.0," he began, "you're not looking to well."

The boy was clearly not impressed with his mocking tone and hurled Vladislav into the side of an AAV-5 Arclite siege tank.

"Was it something I said?" he questioned.

Tosh scrambled to his feet, but Nicholas immediately targeted him, hurling the Spectre into a wall of metal. He felt one of his ribs break and despite his best efforts to stifle a scream, he failed to do so, his screams reverberated against the walls. Vladislav could see that Dr. Schakal's attempts to 'improve' SUBJECT: VIERZEHN ver2.0 had been successful; he was now easily the most powerful subject to come out of PROJECT: GENESI. The other test subjects might've fallen into the hands of the Terrans, but SUBJECT: VIERZEHN ver2.0 would be a far greater asset then all of them combined, but he needed to get the boy under control. He pulled Linhagem from its sheath and tossed it into the air, severing an electrical wire that stretched across a portion of the scrap yard. Tosh realized what his intention was and screamed at the boy, hoping that he'd get out of the way. The cable hit the boy, his body jerking about as several thousand volts of electricity entered into his body. A fuse was blown somewhere in the scrap yard, cutting off the power and causing the boy to collapse face first into the sand.

"Oh...I really hope he's not dead," Vladislav muttered, retrieving his sword, "otherwise Taurus will have my head."

He began approaching SUBJECT: VIERZEHN ver2.0's unmoving form, when a sudden burst of power hurled him backwards. Electrocuting the boy had been a mistake; Biotics could generate mass effect fields through the electrical impulses of their brains, and he had just subjected the boy's body to a massive shock. Tosh watched as the boy got back to his feet, watching in disbelief as his skin began to take on an electric-purple coloring. His hair had turned jet black, while his eyes had turned completely white. He had been transformed into a dynamo of raw energy, and anything that wasn't secured was pulled into the air. Tosh watched as Vladislav ducked a piece of flying metal, but failed to avoid a larger piece that slammed into him, dragging him across the scrap yard. He reached the crashed remains of a _Leviathan_-class Battlecruiser and leapt atop it, where he was safely out of range of SUBJECT: VIERZEHN ver2.0.

_"Oh great. __Now his generating a singularity,"_ he thought to himself, _"I'm not throwing my life away."_

They may have been private thoughts, but they easily reached Tosh as he watched the samurai leap over a nearby wall and drop down the side. The Spectre turned his attention to the dauntless task that he now found himself with; trying to stop the boy before anyone got hurt. Tosh struggled to his feet, glancing around without any sort of plan when he noticed something shimmering in the storm.

_"Gabe, can you hear me?"_ Dyla asked.

_"What are you doing here?"_ he demanded.

_"Came to give you a much needed hand,"_ she stated.

_"What about the crash site?"_

_"It's been secured by reservists from Simonson Munitions,"_ Dyla informed.

_"Well I hope you have a plan, 'cause I don't."_

_"Just one."_

Dylanna de-clocked behind the boy and drove her AGR-28 into the back of his head, causing him to stumble forward. The attack had taken him by surprise, disrupting his concentration and causing the floating debris to suddenly crash into the ground. Nicholas turned around to face his attacker, only to have the butt of the assault rifle smashed into his face. The boy went down like a sack of potatoes, but still remained in his transformed state.

"Thanks for the rescue," Tosh said, limping towards her.

"What happened to our friend?"

"Took off when the heat was turned up."

"Well...what do we do with him," Dylanna asked, pointing in Nicholas' general direction.

"...I donno."


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Rendezvous

Location: The Hyperion

Evening...

* * *

Raynor peered out through the windows of the Hyperion's bridge, watching as the _Behemoth_-class battlecruiser slowly made its way to the rendezvous site. Since seizing control of the vessel, Rory Swann had spent hours trying to repair the sabotage done to the systems. He had been the Hyperion's chief engineer prior to the Vanu's high-jacking, and had been imprisoned along with much of the vessel's original crew. He watched as seven Battlecruisers and dozens of smaller vessels came into view, gathering around what appeared to be a mobile base of some kind.

"What is that?" he asked aloud.

"That's the Skidbladnir," Kerrigan answered, stopping next to him, "It's a Star Base, meant to be an upgrade to the Starport, making it into a flying construction facility."

"How come we don't we see more of them?" Matt asked, from the command chair.

"Given how mobile our military buildings already are, it was viewed as waste of resources," she replied, crossing her arms.

"I'm guessing that that one is a prototype," Jim stated.

"One of four," she confirmed, "the others are: the Hringhorni, the Naglfar, and the Sessrúmnir."

"Ma'am, shall keep our current heading?" Matt asked.

"Yes, and let me know when the Skidbladnir beings hailing us."

"Yes, ma'am," Matt replied.

"Tell me this isn't the extent of Gaskaville's fleet? Cause we'll need more then eight Battlecruisers and a couple of ships," Raynor said.

"We may not have much choice," Kerrigan said, "most of the ships went up when the docks were hit."

"And the longer we wait to act, the more entrenched they'll be when we try to retake the capital."

"Do we have an ID on those ships?" Kerrigan asked.

"We've got Gaskaville's flagship: the Glorious Strategist holding position near the Skidbladnir," Matt reported, "we've also got the Tzadik, the Grey Tiger, the Palatine, the Victory, the Aleksander, and the Norad II."

"I see Vice Admiral Stukov is personally overseeing things," Raynor commented, "and General Duke, but I'm not familiar with the COs of the other vessels."

"The Tzadik, the Grey Tiger, the Palatine, the Victory, are captained by Colonel Louis James, Captain Robert Mason, Colonel Jackson Hauler, and Major Tom Hawkins," Kerrigan explained.

"Ma'am, we're being hailed," Horner reported.

"Put it up on the screen, Matt," Raynor ordered.

The image that appeared on the bridge was of Fleet Admiral Gaskaville; an older man with a droopy gray 'Hungarian' moustache and a cybernetic left eye.

"Skidbladnir to the Hyperion, identify your allegiance immediately or we shall open fire."

"Skidbladnir – This is Ghost No. 24601, control of the Hyperion is now under Republic control," Kerrigan reported.

"Acknowledged, please proceed to the Skidbladnir and prep docking tubes," he ordered, "The Vice Admiral wishes to meet with you as soon as you're onboard."

"Understood," Kerrigan replied, "Matt, pull us along side."

"Bringing us in," he reported.

The Hyperion weaved through the gathered ships, pulling along the starboard side of the Skidbladnir and extended the docking tubes. The entire battlecruiser vibrated loudly as they were successfully docked with the Star Base.

"Stay with the ship, Matt," Raynor ordered, "We'll be back."

* * *

Location: The Skidbladnir

Ten minutes later...

* * *

The narrow hallways of the Star Base were made all the more claustrophobic with the Marines decked out in CMC armour patrolling through them. On more then one occasion Raynor had to press himself up against a wall just to be able to let them to pass. Eventually he, along with Kerrigan, Iggins, and Kydd managed to find their way to the ship's conference room. Fleet Admiral Gaskaville had his back to them when they entered; his black uniform was completely immaculate, but he wasn't alone. Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov was standing nearby, studying a holo-graphic map that was being displayed from the table before him.

"Thank you for coming aboard," he said, turning to face them, "your capture of the Hyperion should be commended."

"What are we looking at, sir?" Kerrigan asked, directing the question to Stukov.

"First off – ODIN is now back under our control," Stukov announced, "it was recovered by Republican Ghosts early this morning and has been installed at High Command."

"That's good to know," Kerrigan stated.

"Admiral DuGalle wants us to begin the assault tomorrow evening," he added.

"We're getting reinforcements...right?" Raynor asked.

"We've still got ships incoming, but they won't all get here in time." Gaskaville answered.

"Not having much faith in this plan," Kydd muttered.

"Its luck we need," Kerrigan stated.

"General Warfield's got some ships under his command," Stukov stated, "We'll rendezvous with his forces as we head towards the mainland."

"How are we suppose to retake the capital exactly...what's the plan?" Iggins questioned.

"We've established a base of operations at the Marlowe Trading Post," Stukov explained, "Under the command of Captain Bock; they'll be making a push towards the capital. General Duke on the other hand will take the Norad II to Coal Harbor and launch his compartment of Drop Pods carrying the 417th Marine Platoon, that'll get boots on the ground."

"A two-prong attack, eh?" Kydd commented.

"They'll link up with local resistance fighters and begin making a push against the Vanu," Stukov continued, "our fleet then jump in and engage the Vanu's, pulling them away from the capital."

"What about the Prime Minister?" Raynor asked, "Where's he been during all this?"

"He along with the representatives from the Republic of Acorn took shelter with the Mezzo Cartel," the Vice Admiral replied.

"A gangster?...really?" Iggins commented.

"Times of crisis can breed strange bedfellows," Raynor stated.

"I agree," Kydd said, "Any sign of Dr. Eggman?"

"Neither hide nor hair of him," Stukov answered, "ODIN's scanning every inch of Augustgrad, but so far he's turned up empty handed."

"It's dangerous to allow him to run around," Kerrigan stated.

"Agreed, but right now there's nothing we can do about it," Gaskaville commented.

"Check the ocean, he could be hiding there," she suggested.

"Thank you for the advice," Stukov said, "Head back to the Hyperion and await further orders."

"Understood, sir," Kerrigan said.


End file.
